Foes of Namek
by Slippers31
Summary: Different choices and actions has lead to a slight change in the history as we know it. How will they deal with their problems in this world? What path has this universe lead them to? Follow Goku and his friends as they embark on the same, but different adventure...
1. Chapter 1

_"There is actually twelve universes, some holds residence for fighters stronger than myself"_

The god of destruction smiled at the easygoing attitude the Saiyan warrior portrayed. He did not feel the urge to ask further questions, nor did he seem to feel the need to know just how and why the Universe was constructed the way it was. He just accepted it. Whether or not he was an imbecile, the violet coloured god couldn't help but feel awe towards the warrior. Such a light-hearted manner yet so much dedication. No wonder he'd gone so far!

Both of them looked to the stars. The god wondered wether or not the Saiyan tried to at least grasp what he had just said. He could always ask him. But Lord Beerus was a proud god, such an action was beneath him. So he decided to stay quiet.

What the god of destruction did not mention, however, was the smaller universes connected to these major twelve. These universes were like the smaller branches of a tree, each divided by the difference of choices and actions...

* * *

 _*The 31st Universe connected to Universe Seven*_

 **Chapter 1** \- **So it begins**

It was a nice and calm day on the planet Namek. The wind was mild and the third sun wasn't as strong on the southern hemisphere, which currently had it's ajisa planting - season. This was a busy period for the young Namekians and so they did not notice nor sensed that this particular calm was not going to last.

Miles away, In a dry and deserted area. A namekian frog had the fortune to look up to the sky just in time to see a meteor-like object appear. The frog just stared as the object headed towards it's position. Its red eyes widened as it realized the object was going to crash where it was currently sitting. As quick as possible it jumped out of the way of the impact. But not quick enough to be hit by the shock wave caused by the crash.

 **BOOOOOOOOM!**

The small creature, dizzied by the blow, looked at the hissing meteorite in confusion. All it could see was the top of the meteor sticking up from the crater. The object looked strange as it was white-coloured and had weird pointy-parts sticking out. It was very foreign to the Namekian frog. However, that was because it was a frog. Had it been a Namekian, it would have identified the object as a spaceship and not a meteorite. A Namekian spaceship to be precise, that had crashed face-forward right where the frog had been before.

All of the sudden the frog heard a noise. A scream that came from inside the ship and followed by that was a beam of light which appeared out of the back of the ship. Fear took over curiosity and the frog jumped away as fast as it could.

The spaceship was now sporting a large hole with smoke emitting from it.  
Out of this hole jumped a young, bald man. He landed with ease on the edge of the crater and took in the enviroment. "Wow" He breathed in apprehension. "So this is Namek..."  
He was astonished how similair it was to his own home planet. It reminded him of the wastelands he sometimes would pass when flying back home.  
But what hit him the most was the fact that the sky was green and the grass was blue. "Opposite to earth" He concluded.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud and shrill voice.  
"KRILLIN!"

The bald man turned towards the ship with an expression of dread on his face.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?! LEAVING ME BEHIND LIKE THAT? YOU'D BETTER GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE AND GET ME! NOOW!" The voice shouted.

With pearls of sweat now forming on his head he jumped back in the ship to face the wrath of an abandoned woman.

Seconds later, the bald headed man and the woman stood at the edge of the crater. Both of them observed the damaged ship that had taken them light years away from their home in just a month.  
The woman huffed and crossed her arms. She wore a black and yellow space-suit with black and white-striped sleeves. A round brand with the letters _Capsule corp_ decorated the upper-parts of her sleeves. Her hair was cut just above her shoulders and she had a black hairband that sat just above her bangs. On her right chest there was a nameplate with the name _Bulma_ written on it.

She frowned at the bald man, her anger not yet subdued. She had been the only one dressed appropriately for space. He had showed up with casual clothes and was now wearing that typical orange combat suit he always wore. This made her even more angry.

"This is your fault, you know" She said, still frowning at him.

Krillin looked at her, appalled "WHAT? What did I do?".

"The Nebula we passed! It messed with our instruments causing the ship to malfunction when we were supposed to land! If you'd warned me about it and we had steered clear of that we wouldn't have crashed in the first place!"

The bald man stared at her. "How was I supposed to know that?"

"Isn't that obvious? You can sense energy cant't you?"

"Oh..." Krillin felt a pearl of sweat slowly running down his cheek. "Well, I mainly focus on ki" He answered, still in disbelief as to how she could blame all this on him.

Bulma turned around. "Hah! What a useless ability! And now we're stuck here because of you!" She shot back as she walked along the edge of the crater.

"Useless she says..." Krillin said with a thin voice. She really could be too much sometimes.

When Bulma had calmed down she came to a halt. She turned to the ship again and tried to survey the damage. The engine was definitely destroyed, at best. In fact they were lucky it didn't explode when they crashed. She had to inspect it further but her trained eye could alredy estimate that at least 70 percent of the ships parts and instruments would need to be replaced. Bulma sighed "That's a whole lot that needs replacement".

"Lucky for us, I am a genius..."

"If I can get hold of the proper tools and materials I should be able to repair the ship." She put her hands on her hips and continued "Maybe we could ask the Namekians... Since the space ship is from here they should be able to provide it... Or if we're lucky, they might even have other ships! Then we should be outta here in no time"

Krillin looked at her "That's great and all Bulma... But what about the Dragonballs?"

"Oh right! I forgot about them!" She blurted and started digging in her right pocket. She took out a small device and clicked on the button that was sticking out. In a matter of seconds the item started to give out a beeping noise. Bulma looked up towards Krillin with a wide smile. "We have a signal!"

Krillin smiled back, equally excited "So the planet has Dragonballs?"

"U-huh" She nodded and walked up to him. "Look!" She said and showed him the device. She adjusted the settings so the radar would cover the whole planet. Seven green circles lit up the small, black screen. "It's seven of them! Just like on earth!"

Krillin looked and saw the vast area the radar covered. "They seem to be pretty scattered" He said, surprised that the balls were distributed in such a manner.

Bulma looked up from the radar to Krillin "Well yeah... What'd you expect? They always spread out like that after one use."

She looked back to the radar and adjusted it's settings so they could see the dragonballs that were closests to them. "Hmm, one to the south-east... And another at... South-west." Somewhat bewildered she looked between the two spots that were nearest to them. "Huh... They have almost the exact same distance..."  
Then, her face lit up. "Hey, I've got it! What if we split up?" Her smile grew as she thought more about it "Yes that's it! We'll be able to cover more ground and we'll save a lot of time!"

Krillin did not share her excitment. "You sure that's safe?" He said, not being able to survey how strong the inhabitants of the planet were. Not to mention how dangerous...

"Ofcourse I'm sure" Bulma answered as she put the radar back in her pocket. "Remember what that weird geenie-guy said? The Namekians are peaceful! If you fly and I use the hoover-bike we'll be done in no time!"

The bald man smiled at her "You're right! I keep imagining them as Piccolo when I really should think of them as Kami!"

Bulma gave him a wink and said in an amused tone "Well, what'd you expect? The only Namekian you've ever met is Piccolo and that guy gives quite the impression".

She reached to her left pocket and took out a box which had the words "Capsule 23-35" written on it. She took out one of the capsules and twirled it between her thumb and two fingers. "-Lets get a move on!" She said and threw the capsule to the ground. A pang and a poof of smoke later a shiny, red hoover-bike appeared.

When Bulma got ready to mount the bike, it dawned on Krillin. "Uh, Bulma! Wait a minute!". As she sat down on the bike she looked back at him and asked "What is it?"

"I don't have a radar..."

Bulmas eyes widened. "Oh my! I didn't think about that"

Krillin stared at her, glad that he had thought of that before they both had gone their seperate ways. Ofcourse he probably would have found her quite fast. _But still..._ What if they would've gone their seperate ways and he wouldn't have realized it until he was too far away to sense her energy? It wasn't like her energy stood out to begin with...

Once again his thoughts were interrupted by an annoyed Bulma "Earth to Krillin!"

The bald-headed man blinked "Wha?"

"I said, we might as well take the Hoover-bike and go south-west!".

Krillin looked at the bike in confusion. Why should he ride it when he could fly?

"Snap out of it and just get on the damn bike!" She could not understand why he was so slow all of the sudden.

Krillin walked over to the bike and positioned himself behind Bulma. Somewhat hesitant he said "I uh-just thought I could fly while you ride the bike".

"I know that" Bulma answered. "But I think it's better if I drive while you look at the radar. This is a new planet after all so maybe we should be cautious for now" her eyes drifted to a flying reptile that happened to pass them in that moment.

She ignited the engine and with a woooshing-sound the vehicle started hoovering. Bulma gave the radar to Krillin and they were on their way.

* * *

On a planet not too far from Namek, a whole civilization had been wiped out in just a couple of hours. In the midst of the ruins and devastation stood two Saiyans. One of them was large with no hair except for a moustache. The other one was smaller with dark hair that defied gravity in a flame-shaped manner. Both of them wore combat armour and had a strange glass that covered their left eyes. This glass was attached to a device which covered their left ears.  
The bigger Saiyan was sitting on a large metal-debris while the other, smaller one, was standing next to him. On the ground in front of them, an undressed and unconscious boy was lying face-forward on the ground. All of them had tails with brown furr. The two Saiyans had theirs wrapped around their waist and the child had it sprawled between his legs.

Overlooking the child, the bigger Saiyan turned to the smaller one. " That was pathetic! And here we thought we needed backup! What kind of grading did this planet have?!" He then looked back at the child and added "It makes me angry!"

Ignoring his complaining companion, the smaller Saiyan looked to the sky.

"Finally" He said as he spotted three objects that were headed their way.

As the objects came closer they took the shape of three, round, travelling-pods. All of them, big enouogh to fit one person of a larger size.

These three pods landed in front of the them. And automatically, all three doors to these space-pods opened. The larger Saiyan stood up and the smaller Saiyan was just about to head towards one of the pods when a third person landed just behind them.

"It took some time, but I finaly found something useable" Said the third Saiyan and looked to the strange garments in his hands. The Saiyan was slightly shorter than the bald one and had long, black hair that came down to his calves. He too were armoured and had a brown tail wrapped around his waist.

The smaller Saiyan turned to him and said with a smug voice "Just in time Radditz... Any minute longer and we would have left without you" his expression hardened and he added "Deal with the brat quickly before I loose my patience!"

The Saiyan called Radditz grinded his teeth to restrain his anger "Fine" he answered and turned to the unconscious child.

"Does this mean that we can leave this damn planet now?!" Asked the large, bald Saiyan with enthusiasm.

"Yes it does" The smaller Saiyan answered. He did not display the same excitment as the bald one but he did feel it, perhaps even more than the other two. However, his mood changed as the bald Saiyan spoke.

"Ohh! This is going to be great! I really hope those Nam-"

"NAPPA!" The smaller one interrupted him harshly.

The two Saiyans looked at him in fear and he looked back at them, exasperated. "Enough of this stupidity! Take off your scouters!" He then looked to Radditz and added "Both of you!"

When they had done what he said. He too, took off his scouter and switched it off. He gave them a wary look and asked "Have you turned them off?"

"Yes" Answered Nappa and Radditz almost simultaneously.

"Good" The smaller Saiyan said. A little relieved but unsure of how much damage this folly had cost them. "Now listen! I don't want to repeat myself again!"

"It is absolutely essential that our destination is kept from Frieza at this time! Any disclosure from our side and we can forget about the wish!... That is why we do not mention anything about Namek while wearing our scouters! Do I make myself clear?"

The two Saiyans nodded in response. "Yeah you're right, Sorry Vegeta" Nappa said, ashamed of his recklessness.

Vegeta turned his back on them. Still agitated, he decided he'd rather wait in the pod than waste his time looking at those two. He was almost tempted to leave without them.

Radditz turned to Nappa, annoyed that he got scolded for something he wasn't responsible for. "Nice going" He said, uncaring of the fact that Nappa could end him with ease.

"Radditz! Dress the wrethced child so we can be on our way!" Came Vegetas voice from one of the pods.

Radditz did as he was told and dressed the unconscious child with the alien garments he had found amongst the wreckage. He then carried the child to his pod and sat down in it, with the small boy in his lap. "Damn brat" He muttered to himself.  
Since he was the weakest of them he'd be the one stuck with the kid. He also happened to be the boy's uncle, but that did not mean that he wanted to play babysitter.

When all of them had entered their pods, Vegeta put in the coordinates. Since he didn't want their destination to be transmitted he had to do it manually. Luckily, the two other pods were connected to his so they would recieve the same coordinates. He didn't dare to think how it could have ended if the idiot, Nappa had to put in the coordinates by himself.

As the pods soared up towards the sky all three of them looked down at the ground. Just a couple of hours before it had been a huge city filled with intelligent life. Now all that remained were ruins and smoke. Destruction was like art to them and the harder resistence they experienced, the bigger satisfaction they recieved from such a scenery. It really was a pity that the inhabitants of this planet was such an easy defeat.

While Vegeta looked at the devastation his thoughts wandered to Namek. Perhaps Nappa was right, he had indeed heard rumours of these Namekians. Supposedly they should be a strong race with magical powers. _This should be interesting..._

* * *

Everything was dark and quiet with the exception of two distant voices that grew louder. When he finally started to get a hold of his own mind and thoughts, he also started to register what the voices were saying.

"I wonder how he got to keep his... I thout' you needed to be a saint in order to keep it"

"No-no! You know it aint like that! Don't ya remember the other guy?"

"Ohh yeah! You're right. That guy was real nasty thou'... You think this one is too?"

"I hope not! Or we'll be in trouble for sure!"

A wave of dizziness caused him to grunt.

"Shhh" Hushed one of the voices "Looks like he's waking up"

He tried to open his eyes but regretted it immidiately. Carefully, he sat up and massaged his scalp with one hand while supporting his weight with the other. "Arghh... My head" He moaned as he tried to relieve the pressure he felt in his head.

"Woah!" Said the other voice "Didn't know you could feel pain when you're dead!"

Those words filled him with terrror. "WHAT?!" He yelled and opened his eyes.

The scenery he met was beyond odd. With two cloud-looking creatures that floated in front of him. Behind them, on one side he saw a dark forest of some sorts that seemed to be filled with thorns and dark fog. While on the other side there seemed to be a park with grass and trees... And a pond filled with red water.

"Yup" Said one of the cloud-creatures "You're in hell bud"

He looked to the creatures and asked "What are you?"

"We're dead! Just like you" The other one answered. "...Thou' we don't have our bodies..."

"You're real lucky you know, I would've loved to keep my body!" .

"You gotta be special! We've only seen one with a body down here and we've been here a long time"

The first one nodded and continued "And he even looked like you! How crazy is that!" Then he added "...Uhm, you're not gonna hurt us...right?"

He looked at the two... Souls, that he guessed them to be, in confusion and asked "Who?"

"Hmmm" Answered the other soul. "It was years ago... I remember that he did look like you, but older... What was his name? Pi-something..."

 _Piccolo!_

The name struck him like thunder. Yes, he finally remembered who he was...

"Was it Picasso?" Asked the first soul, unaware of the realization that had struck their newly arrived friend.

That caused Piccolo to grunt. "No" _What a bunch of clowns..._

"Really?..." The first soul challenged, "How do you know that if you just got here?"

"Nah, he's right! I remember now... It was Piccolo! Right?" Said the other soul.

"...Yes"

"So...It must be him" Piccolo thought, not sure as how to feel about it. Afterall, he had never met his predecessor or... father. He was sure of one thing though...

"Take me to him! Now!"

* * *

Bulma smiled at the feeling of wind in her hair. "Just like old times". She had been so focused on the task at hand that she had forgotten how much she loved adventures. Namek was a lot like earth, but at the same time it wasn't. For one thing the air smelled different, cleaner and dryer than what she was used to.

Krillin did not share Bulmas positive emotions and started to grow rather impatient. He suspected that it had to with the fact that he was riding in the back.  
If he had flown, it would've taken them less time but Bulma didn't seem too keen to be carried by him. He looked at the radar and concluded that they were half-way there. Man, It had taken them all day and they weren't even close! Speaking of that...

"Hey Bulma! How long has it been since we started?"

Bulma looked at her watch and answered "We landed six hours ago!".

Puzzled, he looked up to the green sky.

"What about it?" Asked Bulma, curious to why Krillin seemed concerned.

"Well nothing has changed as long as we've been here... It's a bit weird, don't you think?"

"Hmm" Bulma thought as she allowed herself to take her eyes off the road and up towards the sky. "Oh my, You're right!" She said and felt amazed by the strangeness of it all. Then, as she was about to look back at the road she spotted a small orb of light. A second sun!

"Wow! Krillin look, This planet has two suns!"

"Hm?" He followed Bulmas gaze. "Yeah...you're right! That's really strange"

"You could say that again!" Bulma agreed. "Speaking of time" She began. "How far are we from the dragonball?"

"Halfway" Krillin replied.

"Halfway?!" She exclaimed and turned to Krillin, causing the hoover-bike to waver.

"Yeah I know. But could you keep your eyes on the road?" He asked, concerned for their safety.

Bulma didn't listen to his pleading. "How? We've been going non-stop for six hours!"

"Bulma, please-"

"This bike isn't that slow! This is impossible, give me the radar!" She demanded. When Krillin didn't do as she asked, she snatched it out of his hand. "How?" She wondered again as Krillin said something she didn't listen to. Until he raised his voice.

"BULMA! WATCH OUT!"

"Huh?" Bulma looked up just in tim to see a large rock. She dropped the radar and did a last minute maneuver. When they had steered clear of the rock she turned the hoover-bike around to retrieve the radar. When they came up to the place where the radar was, the hoover-bike came to a halt.

They had left behind the large and dry planes which they had landed in and had finally reached somewhat of a coastline. Neither of them were sure if it was a lake they had approached or an ocean. The water was covered with islands and there was a lot more trees in this area. The trees were, just like the planet, similair to earth's but at the same time not. The trunk of the trees were taller and much more symmetric and all the crowns of the trees, they had seen so far, were round.

"Phew!" Krillin exhaled as he jumped off the bike. He had been sitting down so long that his legs had fallen asleep. Bulma also felt relieved as she sat up and decided to stretch her legs a little.

"Hey Krillin, lets take a little breather"

Krillin agreed and did a little stretching of his own after he had picked up the radar.

After a while, a large rumbling escaped Krillins stomach. He looked to Bulma, who seemed to be studying the Namekian sky. And asked if she had brought any food.

"Ofcourse I brought food! What do you take me for?" She answered, irritated by the fact that he hadn't thought of it before. "And what the hell did you pack? A guide book to the finest restaurants of Namek?"

Krillin swallowed "N-no...I just thought..."

"Oh for crying out loud!" Bulma interrupted him. "Where would you guys be if it weren't for me!?" She exclaimed as she dug out her capsule box. She took one of the capsules and threw it to the ground. With a bang and a poof of smoke, a small fridge appeared.

"I've brought food for three months and if that isn't enough, I have more at the ship." She said as she opened the fridge.

Just as Krillin appeared next to her she pointed to a strawberry cake "Look, I even packed dessert!"

When they were done eating, Krillin laid down on the soft grass. Bulma followed his example. Both of them looked up to the sky. "That's a weird looking planet" Said Bulma and looked at the biggest planet that were visible in the Namekian sky.

"Yeah" Krillin agreed and put his hand on his stomach. That fish and rice course really did the trick. Even though it wasn't the tastiest...

"Kinda reminds me of Jupiter..." Bulma continued. "It's gotta be a gas giant".

That caused Krillin to laugh "Just looking at it makes me gassy"

"Oh, would you grow up?!" Bulma responded, irritated by his childish behaviour.

Krillin felt his cheeks burn in embarassment "Goku would've laughed..."

Bulmas irritation dissappeared as she felt sadness replace it.

"We'd better continue" She got up and capsulated the small fridge.

Krillin got up and was about to walk towards the hoover-bike when he felt it. Two-no three massive Ki's that were approaching. He tried to locate them and did so by looking up to the sky. Bulma raised her eyebrow at Krillins mood change "What is it?"

He didn't answer but looked at the direction he felt the powers comming from. Then he saw three objects falling down from the sky at a massive speed. The energies he felt were enormous! Were the Namekians really this powerful? It was frightening to say the least... As he focused more on the energies he realized something. He had felt one of these energies before.

Bulma saw the objects too and asked "Are those... meteorites?"

"... I don't think so"

"Then" Bulma said, a little shaken up by Krillins serious behaviour "Are they...Spaceships?"

All of the sudden, Krillin recognized why one of the energies felt so familiar. He turned to Bulma and yelled "BULMA! WE HAVE TO GET OUTTA HERE!"

Krillin rushed to her and before she had any time to blink he had grabbed her by the arm and flew away as fast as he could. Leaving behind the hoover-bike.

* * *

Several miles away, the three space-pods crashed. As the doors to the pods opened, three Saiyans and one boy emerged.

Nappa and Radditz struggled with getting out. Nappa, due to his size and Radditz due to the fact that he had his nephew with him. Because of that, Vegeta was the first to walk up from the crater.

While he waited for the others to catch up he looked at the scenery before him. He tightened his hands into fists. So close was he now to achieving his goal... He could almost feel it! A crocked smile grew on his face. "Soon... Immortality will be _mine_!"


	2. Chapter 2 - An Evil Threat

**Chapter 2 - An Evil Threat**

In a small village, an old Namekian did his usual routine were he would go to the shore and pick up some water. He had done so ever since he got too old to go with the rest to work out in the fields.  
He would somtimes miss interacting with different folks from other villages but, he was very happy to spend time with the children of his own habitat.

Working was for the young afterall, That was the circle of life...

As he bent down to assemble the water in his jar he heard something. A distant sound of someone flying. Curious, he looked up. Surely the young wasn't back yet... It should be hours until they would come home, Shouldn't it? Unless he had gotten so old that he'd lost track of time?  
But as the flying sound grew louder he saw that there were only four people in the air. Maybe something had happened? Maybe an accident?  
He stood up when they came closer and as they passed him, He noticed something strange. They did not look like any Namekian he'd ever seen...

Their speed declined when they got closer to the village and as soon as they reached it, the four of them descended.

They landed in the middle of it, making everyone in the village stop what they were doing and approach them.

The Namekians stared at the arrivals. Two of them were exceptionally large and had a mean-looking grin on their faces. In front of them, A shorter man stood with his arms crossed in a neutral- almost bored way.

The villagers whispered amongst themselves.

"What are they?" One asked.

"Stay behind me" Another one said and put himself in front of the children.

A third one asked, a little louder "What's going on?"

The shorter man looked at them and smirked.

"Greetings Namekians! We have come for the Dragonballs..."

Once again the inhabitants started murmuring.

"The Dragonballs? How does he...?"

Vegeta studied their reaction. They had all gone from curious to worrisome. _Interesting..._

"Who's in charge here?" He asked when no one would speak up.

"I am" Came a hoarse voice.

A seemingly old Namekian appeared. He was holding a long wooden-staff and was a little larger than the rest of the villagers.

"I am the elder of this village, and I must ask you... What are your intentions with the Dragonballs?"

"My intentions?" The smug Saiyan repeated. "Now, why would I tell you that?"

Not liking the aliens cockiness, the elder continued, "If you don't tell me, I cannot decide if you are worthy"

A brief but tensed silence followed his words.

"Is that so?" Vegeta responded and looked to his comrades.

"Well, It seems like these Namekians haven't fully grasped their situation"

Amused by their leaders comment, Nappa and Radditz laughed. Their malicious laughter made the already uneasy villagers feel even more insecure.

"Vegeta, Let me help these poor folks understand" Nappa said and looked at them with hungry eyes.

"Don't be selfish, Nappa!" Vegeta scolded. "Afterall, we have the small one to think about... How about it Radditz? We could make a little game out of it"

Radditz snickered "That sounds like a great idea".

He turned to a small boy that was hiding behind him

"You heard him!"He ordered.

The boy looked up to Radditz.

"W-w-wha?"

The Namekians observed the little one with interest.

He looked like the others, with long and messy, black hair and a brown tail. His clothes, however, were different. He wore red baggy pants, a blue armour-like top that had a shoulder pad on one side and a white, loose-fit polar shirt underneath. It was even more strange looking than the armoured clothing worn by the other three men.

Unlike the others, he looked scared and sad.

The boy's hesitant manner angered Radditz. "What are you waiting for, boy!" He yelled and kicked him forward.

The child, who was not prepared for that, fell to the ground.

"And tuck your damn tail in!" He added for good measure. The boy was really thick, having his tail wide-open for any attack...

"Ahhhw, Radditz the uncle" Nappa teased. "Bwahaha! I crack myself up!"

Vegeta chuckled and watched the brat as he got to his feet.

"Meet our little experiment" He said.

"A half-breed spawn... We are currently trying to teach him the proper ways of Saiyan behaviour"

"But" He added with a smirk "We are not sure if he is cut out for it"

"What is the meaning of this?" The elder protested. "He is just a child!"

"He is part-Saiyan and should be able to handle a couple of slugs" Vegeta sneered

"Handle?" The elder asked while he subtly glanced in another direction. _If only one of them could get away and hide it..._

Vegeta followed the quick movement of the elder's gaze. It was a very discreet look towards one of the larger houses a bit further uphill.

"Radditz, I believe it's time for that example now" The leader of the Saiyans said while observing the old Namekian.

The boy looked between Radditz and Vegeta. _An example?_

Too quick for the eyes to see. Radditz disappeared, materialized where the villagers stood and grabbed one of the Namekian children. Then he appeared in front of the boy and threw the Namekian child to the ground.

The Villagers were shocked by this.

Some of the Seniors prepared themselves to charge the Saiyans and bring back their young one. But Vegeta raised his hand and shot a warning attack a few feet from where they were standing.

Frozen by fear, they could only but watch the helpless child and pray for his safety.

"Dispose of that" Radditz commanded.

"Ahh... Uhh... Wha?" The half-Saiyan stuttered.

"Get on with it you stupid brat!" Nappa yelled. "Kill him already!"

He turned to Nappa, ice-cold fear crawling down his spine.

"K-kill?"

"Please, do not hurt him!" The elder pleaded.

The boy stared at the Namekian child, who got up from the ground.

He was about his own height. With no hair except two pointy parts, that looked like antennas, sticking out from his forehad. And his skin was green. A sense of déjà vu struck him. But he couldn't figure out why.

Too scared to defy the bad Saiyans, He raised a shaky hand towards the child. Seconds passed... But he could't do it.

"I...can't" He said quietly and lowered his eyes to the ground, not wanting to face the reactions of the three Saiyans.

Radditz growled. "Do it! Or I swear, I'll make your pathetic life even more miserable!"

The half-Saiyan flinched at his uncle's harsh words. Slowly he looked up and met the eyes of the young Namekian. How could they expect him to kill someone? He couldn't even kill insects because his mommy and daddy had said it was bad...

"N-no! I w-won't" He said with the firmest tone he could muster.

"You weak bastard!" Radditz shouted. He was so angry with the brat's sudden attitude that he wanted to kill him.

Nappa, who was more disappointed than angry, crossed his arms and grumbled.

"That stinks!"

The boy felt a huge lump in his throat. He tried swallowing to keep it down. Crying, he recently learned, only made it worse.

"T-thank you" the Namekian child mouthed and gave the half-Saiyan a faint smile.

The expression of grattitude melted away the lump he felt. And somehow, at that moment he couldn't help but feel a slight connection to the green alien. He wasn't sure if it was their mutual feelings of fear and despair that made it so or that they both felt sympathy for each other. Maybe it was both. However, he was sure of one thing, It strengthened his resolution.

"I don't wanna do this" He said, encouraged by his newly found sypmathizer.

Vegeta snorted and raised two fingers towards the little Namekian. With a small beam he blasted a hole in the childs chest.

The boy eyes widened when he saw his sympathizer fall to the ground. _NO!_

The villagers gasped and some of them shouted,

"HOW COULD YOU?!"

"YOU MONSTER!"

Vegeta gave them a look of indifference.

"Are you ready to cooperate now?"

The village-elder watched the evil Saiyan that stood before him.

"As long as you promise not to hurt anyone else" He answered.

"I will not hurt them as long as you uphold your part" Vegeta responded.

The old Namekian wasn't sure if he could trust his word, however, he knew that if they tried to resist, they would all die.

It really was unfortunate that the younger and stronger Namekians were so far away. Or else they might have had a chance... As things were now, he didn't have any other choice but to tell them about the Dragonballs.

However, he didn't have to tell them everything...

"What do you want to know?" The elder asked.

"Everything" The evil Saiyan answered.

"Then I will start from the beginning" Said the old Namekian.

"A long time ago, the Dragonballs were created to bring hope and happiness to our planet. Along with them came the tradition of seeking them out and earning them through multiple tests. The one who got hold of them all would be rewarded with the power to grant any wish he so would desire"

Vegeta smiled in triumph. His theories were finally confirmed! He was so close to attaining his goal, it was almost maddening!

He tried to calm himself by focusing on retrieving as much information that he could possibly get from this so called elder.

"How many are there?"

"Seven" Answered the old Namekian. "Spread evenly throughout the planet."

"Of course they had to be spread across this god forsaken globe!" Vegeta thought.

No matter, with the help of the scouters they should be able to get enough info from other Namekians to gather all of them within a decent amount of time... If need be.

"And you need all seven in order to get the wish?"

The village-elder nodded.

"Yes..."

"And where are these Dragonballs now?" The Saiyan asked.

"As I said, they are evenly distributed throughout the planet. Nobody knows where they really are... That is part of the test"

"I see..." Vegeta replied and gave him a challenging look. "So you don't have any Dragonballs then?"

The elder looked back at Vegeta with a firm expression.

"That is correct..."

"So you are saying..." The evil Saiyan began

"That if I were to look in that house over there..." He said and nodded towards the larger house uphill.

"I wouldn't find anything of interest?"

The elder felt his heart beating faster while his mind was racing, "How did he? -Oh no! He must have noticed!"

He really thought he had been careful...

Angry with himself for being so revealing of his thoughts he squeezed the staff in his hand.

"I suggest that you think before answering me." Vegeta threatened.

"If you don't comply I will end all of you"

"... There is a Dragonball in that house, yes..." Came the elder's reluctant response.

"Wise choice, old slug" The Saiyan said.

"Radditz, get the Dragonball!"

"Yes, Vegeta" Radditz answered and walked up towards the house.

When Radditz had retrieved the Dragonball he went back to his remaining comrades.

The Saiyans looked at the orange sphere with interest. Vegeta hadn't really thougt about what they would look like, but he definitely didn't expect it to look like that. It really was one of the most remarkable things he had ever seen. As he observed it he saw that inside the ball, it appeared to be six stars.

"So they are numbered" He thought and kept staring at the orb in awe.

When he finally came to his senses he got reminded of their current position. There really was no point in postponing their search.

"Nappa, dispose of them so we can be on our way"

All the Namekians gasped.

"But!" The elder protested "Your promised you wouldn't hurt us!"

"Oh, I wont be the one hurting you... Nappa will" Vegeta said with a smirk.

Nappas smile grew wide.

"Time for a good ol' workout" He said and walked past Vegeta. Then he stopped and positioned himself in a fighting stance. He gritted his teeth in concentration and began to awaken his hidden powers.

With a rumbling sound, the ground started to shake and the villagers looked in terror as electrical sparks began to cover the Saiyan's body. He could feel his blood rushing through his veins when he raised his power. Oh, he had been waiting far too long for this! Vegeta could have his schemes and the "wish-grant making Dragonballs" or whatever they were... For Nappa only one thing mattered at this moment. His thirst for battle.

"Don't worry Namekians! I will take care of you!" He laughed. Rejoicing in their fear.

* * *

Not too far away from the village, two earthlings, Bulma and Krillin were hiding in a cave.

Bulma, who refused to spend her time in a dirty, old cave, decapsulated a house so they could hide in a more comfortable way. The house was round and white, with the logo Capsule corp on its front. The inside was quite small with three rooms, the living room and kitchen combined, one bathroom and one bedroom. The walls were white and it's furnishing modest, giving the house a clean and airy feel.

As soon as they got in, Bulma threw herself on a couch in the combined livingroom.

"That was really terrifying!" She exclaimed. "Did you really have to drag me like that?"

Krillin, who was deep in his thoughts, didn't answer.

"Hey Krillin!" Bulma hollered. "What is it? You haven't said a word since you dragged me to this cave!"

He looked up and met Bulmas eyes. She quirked one of her eyebrows at his troubled demeanor.

"Are you still worried about the Spaceships?"

"...Yes" Krillin responded. "I felt several high power levels from those ships"

"So?" She challenged, "It's probably some Namekians, I mean considering the ship we used to get here that is sorta ancient, their newer models oughta be smaller"

"I don't think so..." Krillin countered and joined her on the couch.

Bulma straightened her back and turned to her bald friend.

"Why not?" She asked, perplexed by his negativity.

"Because" He answered, "I recognized one of the energies as the same one I felt back on earth when..."

Krillin looked down to his hands as he felt the bad memories and sorrow rushing to the surface against his will.

"Goku was attacked"

Bulma bit her lip and looked down as well.

"And the worst part is" He continued, "Out of the three Kis I felt... It was the weakest of them all"

Shocked by Krillins words, she did a fast turn to look at him with wide eyes.

"But" She protested "You're quite strong as well, arent you?"

Krillin shook his head. "These guys seem to be on a whole other level... There's just noway"

Bulma sighed in defeat.

"We're screwed!"

"Yeah..." He agreed.

"We'd better hide until they've gone further away... Then we might be able to get to the ship and-"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Bulma interrupted.

Krillin raised his eyebrows in question while she gave him a look of disapproval.

"The ship needs to be repaired, genius!"

The hope he had of escaping sank.

"Oh..."

"This sucks!" Bulma complained. "I don't want to die here!...I'm far too young..."

"I'm younger" Krillin thought and rolled his eyes.

After a moment of silence Bulma thought of something.

"Why would they come here in the first place?"

Krillin blinked.

"Hmm... I don't know. Maybe they've learnt about the Dragonballs?"

"If they have... we need to stop them" Bulma said.

"But..." He protested. "how?"

"Hmm... What if, we locate one of the Dragonballs and hide it?" She suggested.

"Maybe..." Krillin replied

"But what if they have a radar just like us?"

Bulma exhaled from her nose and thought for a moment. When she didn't come up with anything she simply said,

"Then... I guess we have no choice but to face them"

Krillin nodded.

"We wont stand a chance... But we can try at least"

"Yeah" Bulma agreed.

Krillin looked down once again as negaitve thoughts swirled around in his head.

"Man... It seems I'm destined to die. And I haven't even had a girlfriend yet! Just my luck!"

Suddenly, He felt a terrible power surge.

"What!" He gasped and got up to his feet.

Bulma got up to her feet as well. Terrified by his sudden change of mood.

"What? WHAT?"she shreiked. "Please tell me they haven't come here!"

"No" Krillin answered with a distant voice.

Bulma breathed out in relief.

"Damnit Krillin, you've gotta stop doing that! Seriously!"

"I'm sorry... But I felt this huge Ki! It's really impressive but..."

"But?" Bulma repeated.

"Terrifying!" He exclaimed. "I can litterally feel it's vicious intent"

Bulma shivered. They really were in danger and to add salt to injury, no one was there to help. It was just her and Krillin! Oh, how she wished for this to just be a nightmare...

When she looked back to her bald friend she noticed that he was frowning in anger.

"Damn them" He said with gritted teeth.

"What's happening?"

"The ki's I felt when we were approaching this cave... They are disappearing" He responded and clenched his fists.

Bulma remembered when Krillin told her about those Ki's he had felt. He said that they seemed to be quite strong.

"What does that mean?" She asked

"It could only mean one thing...Those evil bastards are killing the Namekians!"

"I wish there was something we could do..." Bulma said and tried to come up with ideas. She thought of what she had brought with her from earth. Though, she knew that no weapon would have any effect on these guys. Especially if they were stronger than Goku... If only they could somehow... Get help or...

Then it hit her.

"Krillin! Tell me when it is safe to go outside!" She ordered

"Why?" He asked. "You're not going dragonball-hunting without me, it's too dangerous!"

Bulma smiled, "No silly, Of course not!"

"I just have to make a long-distance call"

* * *

"Noway!"Squeeled a puffy cloud-like creature.

Piccolo groaned. It really was too bad those soul-creatures didn't have any bodies, at this moment, he would have loved to make them suffer for their endless gibbering.

"Why not?" He sighed.

"Because" The annoying cloud began "It's terribly scary in there!"

The three of them stood in front of a dark forest of thorns. According to the souls, Piccolo senior, as they had started to call his predecessor, had been sentenced to a place which was beyond that forest.

"Don't you mean 'hella scary'" Said the other annoying cloud and broke out into a cackling laughter.

Piccolo clenched his teeth at the horrifc sound.

"Shut up!" He hissed.

"Geez, you really have no sense humour huh" Stated the cackling cloud.

"Why are you afraid of this forest?" Piccolo asked, ignoring the cackling cloud's comment on his sense of humour.

"Because..." The annoying cloud answered, "I've heard it's dangerous!"

"What's the point of worrying when you're dead thou?" Asked the cackling cloud.

Piccolo grunted and walked past them into the forest.

"Hey wait for us!" Both of them yelled.

The scenery and atmosphere changed as soon as he stepped fot in that forest. The fog grew thicker and the sky turned darker. It was as if the sun was setting. Before he knew it, he was surrounded by darkness and fog. It was really strange since it had been daylight before... Maybe time ran a little different here. If time existed at all...

"Is it Night already?" He thought and looked up to the sky.

"Impossible" He gasped.

Through the thick thorns he could see stars. It was bizarre how his surroundings looked like something from a nightmare whilst the sky looked so... Fascinating.

The night sky looked as smooth as velvet with stars glistening like diamonds. Did the night sky look like this on earth? He had never thought about it while he was alive... Back then, It was all about power. Ever since he was born it had all been for one purpose... But now, since he was dead it really didn't matter... That sensation was odd and foreign to him.

Then he heard the snapping of a branch and distant footsteps.

"Hey! You just ran away from us" Came the voice of the cackling cloud

"I can't believe you would just leave us like that!" The annoying cloud chided.

"Oh it was just them" He thought as they walked up to him... Or floated up to him. "Floated" He thought and realized that those two annoying companions of his didn't have any legs. So what was it that he had heard then?

Piccolo looked around him, attuning his ears... He was sure he'd heard something.

"Stop it! you're freakin' me out!" Said the annoying cloud and started to look around.

The cackling cloud hoovered in front of Piccolo and tried to draw his attention.

"Hello?... What is it?"

"Be quiet!" Piccolo commanded.

The two clouds came closer to Piccolo. Sensing that something was wrong.

After a while, Piccolo decided that whatever it was he had heard, he would not be afraid of it. Afterall, he could always fend for himself.

"Man...I've heard stories about this place... Horrible stories" Said the annoying cloud and kept glancing around.

Piccolo looked at them.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah! You wouldn't be smiling like that if you knew the stuff I knew! Like... There's some really strong and dangerous creatures... Like demons!"

"Demons huh? Good thing you're with me then" He said with a crocked grin.

He kept walking with the two souls close behind him. If they had their bodies, they had surely stepped on his heels. Lucky for them, they didn't.

"So" The cackling cloud began "You died quite recently... What happened to you?"

"I was killed"

"Oh, Shoot... That gotta have sucked!" The cackling cloud bellowed

Piccolo grunted

"I was killed too" said the annoying cloud.

"Really?" The cackling cloud asked in shock.

"Yah! Got myself shot by... a copper I think!" Answered the annoying cloud.

"And you never told me that?"

"Ofcourse I did!" The annoying cloud replied.

"Oh man I must've forgotten about that" The cackling cloud said. Astonished as to how he could have forgotten it.

"Haha, well I wouldn't blame ya... The only thing I remember is how I passed. Nothing else... Not even my name" The annoying cloud laughed.

Piccolos eyes bucketed. "What?" He yelled and turned around.

"Yeah... That stuff happens to you after a while!" The cackling cloud stated, "You only remember the present, Not the past... Like for exemple who you were before you died and stuff"

"If you forgot that you were alive once, how can you know about it then? " Piccolo asked.

"Huh... I'm not sure..." Answered the annoying cloud, "Maybe it's my punishment to know that I can't remember"

Piccolo felt like his world was spinning. No wonder he didn't know their names. Of course, He had not bothered to ask... With their running mouths, however, he would have had to pick up their names eventually.

Maybe it would be good not to remember his failure and his death. Maybe he would finally be able to let his purpose go for good and perhaps be at peace... But forget who he was? Forget his puspose? How would that be like?

"Yah, kinda gets to you at first" The cackling cloud continued, "but after a while you don't feel it, you know"

...And become like these imbeciles? No, he would not be able to accept that! He had to do something! He couldn't let himself forget and become a mere cloud of nothingness.

"I have to get out of here" He thought. But how? He hadn't seen any way out of here. Perhaps he vould ask them... Though if they knew they wouldn't be here. Afterall they weren't that stupid, where they?

In any case he'd have to find a way... Maybe his foregoer would know...

"Lets go!" Piccolo said, now even more determined to find his kin.

* * *

 **So I'm finally done with chapter 2. I had some issues with the internet, so I'm sorry for quite a delayed update :( ... Hopefully I'll be able to make the next chapter longer since I'd rather have longer chapters than short ones!**

 **Anyway thank you so much for following this! It's always a confidence booster! ;)**


	3. Chapter 3 - The Invisible Stalker

**Chapter 3 - The Invisible Stalker**

On a blue planet far away from Namek, On a small and remote Island. There was a pink house known as 'Kame House'.

In this house lived some very special people. One old man known as Master Roshi, a pig named Oolong and a sea turtle named Turtle.

In recent days this house also held residence for three guests, a scar-faced exbandit named Yamcha, a shape-shifter called Puar, a three-eyed warrior known as Tien and his lifelong best friend Chiaotzu. They were all dear to the old man, but lately he started to feel that the house had become a bit crowded for his taste.

On this particular day Master Roshi was lying in one of his chairs outside, enjoying the blue sky and the warmth of the sun... And of course, looking through one of his very special magazines. When, all of the sudden, he was interrupted by the phone ringing from his house. He looked away from the captivating magazine and got up.

"Who has the nerve to disturb an old man from reading" He grunted as he walked towards the house.

Oolong, who was lying in the chair next to Master Roshi's snorted.

"Reading? Hah, yeah right!"

He walked after the old man and came inside just in time to see him pick up the phone.

"Hello?" Answered Master Roshi after he had put the phone to his ear.

"Hello, Master Roshi?"

The old man got surprised by hearing the voice of Bulma Briefs. He didn't think he would hear from her for a while.

" _Bulma?!_ " He blurted.

Hearing that name caused everyone, including the three guests _,_ to gather around the phone.

"How's Namek? Does it have any Dragonballs?" Asked the old man.

"Yeah! But that's not why I'm calling" Came her voice from the other line.

"Wow!" Oolong breathed "She's actually calling from another planet!"

"Shh" Hushed Puar who didn't want to miss out on what Bulma was saying.

"We're in big trouble over here..." She began and started to explain what had happened.

"Are you sure of this?" Master Roshi asked after she had filled them in on their situation.

"Yes I'm sure! Or else I wouldn't have called!" Snarled Bulma.

The old man knitted his white eyebrows in a troubled frown.

"... This is really bad" He said.

"No shit Sherlock!" Came her sarcastic retort.

"Remember, don't tell Chichi about this yet!" Bulma warned him. "Knowing her, she'd probably rush to my dad and demand that he'd build another Spaceship!"

"Not to mention" She continued, "We're not even sure of the situation yet, so we don't want to get her hopes up either"

"Right, right! Got it" Master Roshi nodded and kept on listening to what Bulma had to say.

"I tried calling my dad, but he's not answering his phone as usual... So you have to go to there and tell him to start building another space ship! Maybe he can use the blueprints from the Namekian ship we used... There has to be a way for him to build a faster engine!"

"And also" Bulma added "gather the rest of the gang 'cause we might need them here as well!"

"Yes..." He replied, "I've a-"

"Oh! And Master Roshi?" The bluehaired woman interrupted him.

"What?"

"Just gather Tien and Chiaotzu... Don't tell Yamcha!" She warned.

Master Roshi scratched his beard in silence, not sure what to say.

"Last thing I need is his stupid face on Namek as well!" She bitterly remarked.

"Bulma don't say that! We need all the help we can get" came krillins voice in the background.

Behind Master Roshi one of the warriors huffed.

Tien, who was standing next to him looked his way.

"So...you're not going?" He asked carefully.

"What are you nuts? Of course I am! No one can stop me, not even a crazy ex!" Yamcha exclaimed.

"Oh..." Tien answered. Relieved but a little embarassed at the same time.

"Was that Yamcha's voice?" Asked Bulma.

"Uhm..." Master Roshi began.

"Tell him he can't come!" She demanded.

"As if!" Yamcha exclaimed "You can't forbid me from anything. We're not together anymore so you don't have any say in the matter. Just be thankful that we're going in the first place"

"Well guess what!?" Bulma retorted "I can just tell my dad not to allow you on the ship, you jerk!"

Everyone in the room seemed to share Tien's awkward feelings about the situation and just watched as Yamcha, who was now standing next to Master Roshi, yelled at the phone.

"For your information, your dad and I get along great, so HAH!"

"Puh-lease! Like my dad would favour you over his own flesh and blood!"

Finally, the old man got to his senses and stopped their argument.

"Now, now! It's best if you stop fighting! I think we can all agree that the more warriors we send to help you, the better for all of us"

"Hmph... I guess you're right" Bulma reluctantly agreed.

Yamcha nodded in triumph and stepped back.

"Well I guess it's best if we get a move on. You guys better hurry or me and Krillin are as good as dead!"

"Bulma wait!" Master Roshi blurted, "Before you hang up..."

"Yeah?"

The old man's grave demeanor changed and a warped smile crossed his face. With the reflection from the sun glistening in his sunglasses he asked,

"...What are you wearing?"

"DAMNIT OLD PERV! WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" She yelled and hung up.

"It was just a question" He mumbled and put the phone down. Then he turned to the rest of the gang,

"Well men... I guess you heard everything?"

All of them stared at Master Roshi. Once again, shocked over the old man's train of thoughts and Bulma's exploding temper.

"Yes..." They all answered after a while.

"Good, then we'd better start! Who will go to Dr. Briefs house and tell him the plan?"

"I'll do it..." Yamcha volunteered, "I don't think Tien nor Chiaotzu knows the way!"

"Okay" All of them agreed.

Puar, who felt a little bit unsure about one part of the plan asked,

"Are you sure we shouldn't tell Chichi?"

"Oh! I am definitely sure about that!" Yamcha exclaimed.

"But!" Puar protested "She's his mother! Don't you think she has a right to know?"

"No Puar, Yamcha is right... Telling her could compromise the plan" Master Roshi explained, "It's very nice of you to care but... Since she is his mother she would most likely be too emotional. All of you need to keep your heads cool in order to outsmart these oponents. Strength alone won't save you"

* * *

"It's done" Bulma said after she'd hung up.

Both her and Krillin were standing just outside the cave. In front of them was a big satelite-phone with long cables that were connected to the house.

"I really hope it works" Krillin sighed. Not feeling as optimistic about the plan as Bulma.

"It will! I'm sure my dad will find a way" She exclaimed.

"But" She added, "we should get one of the dragonballs just in case... We don't want those aliens to get them all"

Krillin silently nodded and looked in the direction he had last felt the powerful Kis.

"Why do they even want them in the first place?" He wondered.

"Isn't it kinda obvious?" Bulma said and raised one of her eyebrows.

"I mean, what do they want to wish for?" Krillin clarified.

"They are already really strong enough, considering that the weakest one killed Piccolo and defeated Goku... World domination should come quite easily to them without the Dragonballs"

"Hmm, I don't know... But whatever it is, I'm sure it's bad for us" Bulma speculated.

"Yeah... I really hope that we can get off this planet alive..." He muttered.

Both of them looked away into the distance, both of them were deep in thought until Krillin broke the silence.

"Hey Bulma... I think I'll go and check out the village they attacked"

"What! -Why?" She asked in confusion.

"I have to see if there are any survivors... Maybe I could help them!" He explained.

"But" Protested Bulma, "you said you didn't feel any ki..."

"I know, but... It doesn't necessarily mean that they're all gone" Answered Krillin.

When Bulma didn't seem convinced he added "If I go there, maybe I'll know more about what we're dealing with"

"Hmm, Then I'll come with" She responded.

Krillin shook his head.

"No, it's better if you stay here! If something happens... You could still find one of the balls and get away"

"I don't know about that..." Bulma said, not at all too keen about being left alone.

"Trust me! It's better this way! Besides, I'll be back in no time!" He proclaimed.

The blue-haired scientist gave him a sceptical look. She crossed her arms and with a strict tone she said,

"You'd better!"

Krillin nodded. Then with a slight smile and a wave goodbye he took off in the air.

Bulma stared at him while he was flying off into the distance.

"I hope he'll be alright"

* * *

Miles away, a Namekian was standing on the shoreline and looking out to the green water. He was lanky with a tall face and a crocked nose. Behind him were big fields and a dozen young Namekians planting small bushes.

"Taking a break already?" Came a coarse voice from behind.

The Namekian turned in surprise. But when he saw who had approached him his shock turned to relief and he smiled.

"Ah, Geru! I was not prepared for your approach!"

"Caught you off guard, did I? Well I never thought one could do that to the almighty Ka!" Geru said with an amused tone.

Much unlike Ka, Geru was short but heavy with a small nose and a broad chin. His no-sleeve robe revealed thick and toned arms and his stomach, while round, was sculpted.

"Hah, don't make jokes!" Ka retorted.

"Oh come now! You shouldn't think so low of yourself. You're talented enough to be the next Guardian and you know it" Geru exclaimed.

"Stop it! Don't be a fool" The lanky Namekian scolded

"I may be in many areas but not on this! I've known you for too long..."

Ka shook his head but gave him a smile. Both of them had been close since they were infants. Hatched the same day, the other Namekians could almost see them as twins. If they hadn't looked and acted so different.

"So, what are you standing here for? This season is our busiests afterall, one might think you're avoiding the work load" Teased Geru

"I am not avoiding my workload! I felt an approach so I thought I should greet him" Ka explained.

Geru looked out to the water. Seeing no one he turned to Ka and asked,

"Who?"

"Dende" Answered Ka.

* * *

It felt like they had been in that cursed forest for days. Yet the sun had not risen nor had anything eventful happened. Except for the relentless chatter and paranoia from his company.

Piccolo's angry thoughts came to a halt. He glanced to the cloud-beings who was hoovering behind him. _"Company"..._ He thought as he kept on walking. It was certainly new to him... He hadn't considered it before, for all his life he had been alone. Not that he was bothered by it, forming bonds with others seemed so useless. But was it possible that these two idiots expected some kind of friendship out of him? Now that thought bothered him more than any kind of solitude ever would.

"I swear to god, someone or something is following us!" One of the annoying clouds said.

"Which god?" Piccolo asked sarcastically.

"That's not funny!" The cloud protested.

"I don't make jokes" He answered. "Also, I'm not so sure pledging your allegiance with any god will do you good here"

"Yeah that's true" The other one answered. "It's too late to suck up to them, since we're already in hell"

Piccolo didn't bother to listen to the rest of their ranting. He had quickly learnt to ignore the noise that was behind him and instead focused on how he would find the so called Piccolo senior. _A place beyond this forest_... Hopefully there would only be one place to look in. He didn't know how big the underworld was afterall, but he would be prepared to find out if he needed to.

"crack"

Once again, he attuned his ears when he heard a small sound of a snapping branch. The tiny noise had passed both of the cloudbeings' hearing. But Piccolo's ears were sharp, both literally and figuratively. He knew something was following them before the other two bafoons had caught on. However, he chose not to inform them because he didn't want them to get more clingy.

Piccolo also had much faith in his own skills and rarely feared his oponents, which was good in this situation since he could not feel the creatures Ki.  
Though, he believed that if the creature was stronger than he was, it would have simply destroyed them from the start. That is at least what he would have done. Thus, he felt that finding his predecessor was more important than luring out their stalker and so, he decided not to pay too much attention to it.

However, he was curious to why it was following them.

"Hey guys! I know what we can do to forget about our fears" said the annoying cloud.

"What?" The cackling one asked.

"Lets play a game!"

Piccolo grunted in anger,

"We don't have time for that!"

"I know, I know!" The annoying cloud responded "But I tho't we could play a mind game. See, mind games don't need us to do anything but talk so we can keep on walking and playing at the same time!"

"Ohhh" The other cloud uttered in enthusiasm.

"Count me out" Piccolo muttered.

"Wow, you're boring... No wonder you don't make jokes" Laughed the cackling one.

Piccolo gritted his teeth in response.

"So..." The cackling cloud began "What game did you have in mind?"

"How 'bout, 'I spy with my little eye'?" The annoying cloud suggested.

"Woho!" Cheered the cackling cloud "I'm really good at that game!"

"Don't be so loud!" The annoying cloud complained.

"I agree" Piccolo said, "Keep this up, and I'm sure we'll have lots of company"

"Sorry" The cackling cloud whispered. "I got excited"

The green demon rolled his eyes and kept on walking, followed by the playfull souls.

"I spy with my little eye... something black!"

"Hmm" The cackling cloud pondered. "That was a hard one!"

"Come on! We're literally surrounded by it!" The annoying cloud exclaimed.

"I know, Thorns!" Answered the cackling one.

"Correct!" Said the annoying cloud, "Okay, your turn!"

"I spy with my little eye... something grumpy and green"

Piccolo groaned in annoyance as the cloud guessed his name.

"My turn" The annoying cloud stated. "I spy... with my little eye..."

The cloud went silent for a moment and then, with a thin voice he said,

"...Another eye"

* * *

Back on earth, the ex-bandit landed on the properties of Capsule corp. He was immediately greeted by Bulmas mother.

"Ohh, Yamcha! You're finally back!" She gushed and grabbed his arm. "I have really missed seeing Bulma's friends and lovers!"

The scar-faced warrior felt his cheeks radiate with heat. He didn't know what she meant with that last word since he and Bulma had broken up. And he couldn't tell if she was resenful or ignorant of that fact, especially since Mrs. Briefs mood always was brighter than the sun.

"I wish you guys would visit from time to time but what could I expect? Having a daughter that is never really at home. Always out on exciting adventures!" She sighed. "But you could show up once in a while at least! Let us old folks know about your fabulous life!"

Yamcha couldn't keep up with her ranting but wanted to be polite so he gave her a generic "u-huh".

"So Mrs. Briefs" He said when she finally gave him enough room to talk. "I was wondering where your husband might be?"

"Why, he's in his usual lab of course. That man never stops working! I swear, even when we're on vacation he always have some gadget up his sleeve"

Yamcha laughed awkwardly.

"Well you know... Men" He said. Berating himself for not coming up with anything better to say.

"But at least you're not like that, you stud!" Said Mrs. Briefs. "Bulma is lucky to have such a handsome guy... Speaking of that, when do you think you guys'll get married?"

She put her free hand to her mouth and giggled.

"I know I shouldn't jump to conclusions but I just can't wait to see my beautiful daughter in a wedding dress!"

"And" She said and got closer to Yamcha "Between you and me... " She began and looked around as if she had something top secret to say and didn't want anyone to overhear.

"It's not like she's getting any younger and I would very much like to have grandchildren"

"O-okay!" Yamcha exclaimed and distanced himself a little from the babbling woman.

"I'm sorry, But I'm kinda in a hurry... So, you take care now and I'll see you later" He said and walked backwards towards the building.

"Oh okay! See you soon" She answered and waved goodbye.

Yamcha turned and hurried in to the building. As he ascended the stairs to the main lab he thought about what Mrs. Briefs had said.

"Damn it Bulma! Why haven't she told them about their break-up? So typical her to leave the uncomfortable stuff to others"

"Unless..." He thought "She still has feelings for me?"

"Ahh, Yamcha my boy" Dr. Briefs greeted him with a smile.

"Hello, sir!" Yamcha replied and returned his smile. He hadn't changed much since he last saw him. Still in a white robe, with his moustache and the casual cigarette sticking out from his mouth.

"How are you?" The father of Bulma asked.

"Just fine" Yamcha answered, still a little flustered over the conversation he had with Mrs. Briefs.

"That's great to hear! Bulma's mother and I was sad to hear that we wouldn't see you anymore. I'm glad that it turned out not to be true" He said and stroke the black cat that was sitting on his shoulder.

"Maybe not" Yamcha thought when Dr. Briefs informed him about his knowledge of their break-up.

"Uhm... Yeah" Yamcha said with a distant voice "So, erm anyway! I've actually come here on Bulma's behalf"

"Really?" Dr. Breifs asked with a slight surprise. "I didn't know you two were... well talking, but that's nice to hear!... So how is she?"

"She's fine!... Or sorta, She and Krillin is in a bit of a situation" He said and started to reveal to Dr. Breifs What Bulma had told them.

"So you see, we need you to build another space ship so that Tien, Chiaotzu and me can go and get them back" Yamcha explained.

"I see" Dr. Briefs responded with a troubled frown. "I would really like to help you but, you see... The ship had materials we don't have on earth so I can't exactly build you a ship that is as fast as their ship was..."

Yamcha's eyes bulged in shock.

"Y-you can't?"

"Believe me, if I had the proper materials and technology I would have built several! But with earths materials and our limited technology... There's not much I can do, I'm afraid"

"Oh..." Yamcha froze. He hadn't even thought of the possibility that Dr. Briefs wouldn't be able to build the ship. "This sucks" He thought and broke into a sweat.

"If there was a way to get hold of those alien materials... I would be able to" The old man stated.

Yamcha looked down to the ground and scratched his head.

"How are we going to fix this mess?" He asked in desperation.

* * *

"WATCH OUT!" Yelled Piccolo as a huge beam came their way.

He barely managed to dodge the attack and crashed into one of the thorns. Seconds later the beam exploded, causing the ground to shake violently.

"Caught me by surprise..." Piccolo thought and got up. "It wont get the same oppurtunity again"

Except for a slight pain in his right arm he didn't feel injured.

"So I had been right about the creature... It gotta be weak, sneaking up on us like that" He sneered.

"Oh nooo!" The annoying cloud shrieked.

Piccolo looked the clouds way and saw that the cackling one had been split in several parts. He raised his brow at the bizarre sight. It looked like small poofs of compressed, white smoke.

The severed cloud was still for a couple of seconds but then it merged back in to one piece and broke out into a coughing fit.

"Pheeeew" The cloud breathed out. "Thought I had died... again, heh"

"Oh my gosh! I thought you were gone, I'm so happy you're alright!" The other cloud cried and quickly floated to it's comrade.

He turned away from their reunion and looked to his surroundings.

"Damnit! Where did it go?" He muttered when he didn't see anything.

"Uhm... You alright?" The annoying cloud asked Piccolo.

"Of course I am" Piccolo answered, his eyes still scanning their location.

"It's just..." The cloud began.

"WHAT?!" He barked.

"Well... you've sorta got a thorn stuck in your right arm. It looks kinda bad" The annoying cloud answered.

He looked down to his right arm and saw that a black thorn had pierced it. Piccolo shrugged and took it out. Purple blood poured down his arm but he ignored it. The bleeding would stop eventually.

When he threw the piece of thorn to the ground he saw white, sharp teeth of a gaping mouth in his peripheral vision. Out of that mouth came the second attack.

Piccolo jumped out of the way as the second beam struck them.

 **BOOOOOOOOOOM**

He landed as the impact caused yet another earthquake. "I've had enough of this" He thought and yelled,

"SHOW YOURSELF AND FACE ME, YOU COWARD!"

"As you wish" Came the thunderous voice of the creature.

* * *

The half-Saiyan wiped the blood comming from his nose with his sleeve. He was sitting, his back leaning on a big rock, and resting while the other Saiyans were talking. They had landed in an area which pretty much looked like any of the places they had been to.  
It was a small area surounded by that weird-coloured water that seemed to be everywhere on this planet. It reminded him of a small Island, with a couple of trees and a small hill that they were currently resting at. It was cold sitting on that hill and he wanted to go somewhere were it was warmer. But he was too afraid to voice his opinion and they wouldn't have listened to him anyway.

The boy looked at the blood stain on the white fabric.

"Mom would be mad if she saw this" He thought and tried to get rid of it by using his saliva. He tried rubbing it with his thumb but when the blood wouldn't come off, he gave up. The half-saiyan looked at the green water. Wondering if the blood would come off if he washed it there. He considered going down to the shore and try it. But his nose was hurting too much.

Uncle Radditz had punched him right in the face after that incident in the village. He wasn't sure if he'd ever get used to the harsh way the Saiyans treated him. They kept telling him that he needed to be tough and stop crying... But he couldn't help it. Everything was new and scary to him. He didn't like it at all!

Not to mention the killing and hurting other people, like the Saiyans did. He didn't want to be part of that, he didn't want to see people suffering and he didn't want to be here!

Te boy's cheeks were wet with tears and he was snivelling. He burried his face in his arms, imaginening that he were somewhere else. That he would wake up in his warm bed far, far away from here and away from these bad men.

He really missed his home and his parents. The smell and taste of Mommy's food... And Daddy's reassuring smile. He wanted to be with them and hug them. He wanted all of this to just go away. To be nothing but a bad dream that he could wake up from.

"Mommy...Daddy... Please, Take me home!"

* * *

 _"Gohan?"_

Chichi jerked awake. She blinked and looked around the dark room she was sitting in.

"Oh... It was just a dream" She thought and leaned back in her chair. One part of her relieved, another part dissapointed. She had dreamt of him suffering and calling out for her in agony. It had definitely been a horrible nightmare. _But at least she had seen him._

The raven-haired woman got up from her chair, angry at her own helplessness, and walked up to the window. She leaned on the window frame and looked out. The nightlife of West city was a little loud for her taste. With cars, hoover-jets and motorcycles constantly driving by. Even though she was in a high storage building the vehicles were loud enough for her to hear. And being a country-girl, she found it difficult to get any sleep at all while she was there.

She lifted her gaze and saw that the night sky was brightly litten by a full moon. It was really beautiful but Chichi didn't think much of it. Her thoughts were occupied with images of her son. She desperately wanted to find out what had happened to him. Where could he be? Was he okay? Was he... alive?

Chichi's grip on the frame hardened and small cracks started to appear. She knew these thoughts drove her insane every time she let herself have them... But it was almost impossible for her not to think about it. Her family had been taken from her and she would be damned if she couldn't get them back!

"My baby..." She thought as she stared out into the night. "Mommy will find you, No matter what it takes!"

* * *

He was certain it had all been a dream... But he didn't wake up in his bed like he always did. He didn't hear the birds singing in the morning or the crickets whisteling at night and he didn't smell anything familiar. He wasn't sure if he could smell anything at all.

But Goku was sure of one thing as he opened his eyes, he had never seen anything like the scenery he woke up to.

When he got up from the ground he saw that he was on some kind of damaged highway. The view he had was of strange-looking ruins that covered everything within sight. The place had an other-worldly kind of feel and the wreckage showed that there once had been a city there.

The sky was dark and so he assumed it was night. However, he felt the silence he experienced to be unnatural...

 _What happened here?_

"Hello?" Goku tried. His voice echoing.

But as expected, no answer came. He could feel no life-force, not even of animals nor insects... He was alone.

A terrifying thought hit him, was this all that was left from earth?

He felt his heart rate increase. In that case, everyone would be gone... Dead... His family, his friends... All those innocent people.

Had he truly failed this time?

"No... No! That can't be it"

Goku refused to believe it and started to walk. He didn't care that he knew nothing of this place, he was going to find someone or something... Anything to get the answers he seeked!

* * *

 **There we go! Finally done with Chapter 3, Once again I'm sorry for taking so long! My internet is fine now but my computer started to crash so I had to reboot it and stuff -_-''**

 **Oh well I have to stop complaining, Hope you guys liked it and that it isn't too confusing! And thank you so much for following and reviewing. It warms my heart in this cold season!**


	4. Chapter 4 - Discoveries

**Chapter 4 - Discoveries**

 _"I've had enough of this" Piccolo thought and yelled,_

 _"SHOW YOURSELF AND FACE ME, YOU COWARD!"_

 _"As you wish" Came the thunderous voice of the creature._

Out of nowhere a huge beast emerged. It's appearance made Piccolo wonder whether the creature had been invisible or if it simply had camouflaged itself. The beast was now distinguishible from the background, But only somewhat-visible with it's dark colouring that made it look, almost, transparent.

The creature was quite strange looking as well. It looked like a Cyclop, with one big eye and a round head. The neck appeared to be nonexistent and the upperbody was larger than the lowerbody-part. It gave the creature a gorilla-like appearance with long muscular arms that nearly reached the ground.

"What are you and why are you following us?" Piccolo asked with a firm tone. Behind him the two clouds were squirming in fear.

"I am Aduramel and I am in charge of this area." The dark creature answered.

"You and the two other souls do not belong to this place and must go back to the area which you were sentenced"

"I don't recall being sentenced to any place" Piccolo challenged.

"It is not something we demons concern ourselves with. If your recollation fails you, the fault is yours alone" Aduramel responded.

Piccolo raised his brow.

"And what if we refuse to go back?" He asked.

"Then I will have to force you" The demon answered.

"Hm" Piccolo smiled self-righteously and put himself in a fighting position.

"I am ready to be forced"

A massive, carnivorous smile spread across Aduramel's face.

It terrified the two clouds. The cackling one squeked "Look at it's teeth" while the other trembled in fear.

"So be it" The creature said and disappeared.

"I should have seen this comming" Piccolo thought and looked around.

He heard quick footsteps and turned towards the sound. But he didn't see anything.

"Is he really invisible?" Piccolo wondered.

Out of nowhere a huge fist plummeted his stomach.

"OUF!" Piccolo groaned.

The force of the punch was strong enough to make him fall back a couple of meters. He ended up on the ground, lying on his back.

"I guess that answered my question" He thought as he recuperated.

With his right arm he supported himself into a sitting position and with his left he checked his stomach. The attack had not injured him severely but it had been strong enough for him to cough up some blood. He inspected his surroundings, but as expected, he could neither see or feel the creature.

He got up and wiped his mouth.

The demon seized the unguarded moment and attacked. Piccolo heard the swift motion but reacted too late. He got hit by another punch that struck his head this time.

"Damnit" He hissed and steadied himself.

"If only I could see that cursed creature" He thought as he positioned himself in his fighting stance.

Piccolo knew he was stronger. Both of the attacks had caught him off guard yet they had not injured him severely.

He tried analyzing the scenery, putting more effort into his gaze so he wouldn't miss any movement.

The demon being invisible had not been an issue if he only could sense its Ki. But for some reason, the creature did not emit any energy at all. Which was something Piccolo never had encountered.

This was a problem for him, how was he supposed to fight something he could neither see or feel?

A small sound made Piccolo freeze. He braced himself, but no attack came.

"He probably wants to distract me" He thought and turned around.

"But of course!" He realized as a condifent grin crossed his face.

 _"I can hear him"_

He closed his eyes and focused on sharpening his hearing. At first he found it hard to ignore the terrified cries of his travelling companions. However, as he concentrated he tuned out the diverting sounds and adjusted his ears to the discreet movements of his challenger.

Piccolo had to admit himself impressed by the incredible stealth mode Aduramel pocessed. Though, he would not give the creature the same oppurtunites again. Now it was time for the beast to know a true demon's strength.

Aduramel noticed that Piccolo had changed tactics and started to zigzag around him.

Piccolo remained in the same position with his eyes closed and a smug smile, once again on his lips.

"Trying to confuse me, are you?" He asked his invisible oponent.

The creature ignored Piccolos question and continued his charade.

Then the movement stopped.

"Ah, here we go" Piccolo thought right before a beam of light flew his way.

He dematerialized just before the attack hit him and re-appeared behind where he estimated the creature to be.

The demon's attack was abruptly disrupt by an elbow to it's head and the beast fell face-forward to the ground.

Piccolo landed in front of the, now visible, demon.

He snorted and crossed his arms.

"That was easier than I thought"

* * *

In the world of the living. On the planet of green skies and blue grass, a very impatient woman was waiting for the return of her travelling companion.

Bulma yawned. All this anticipation was wearing her out... Sure, he had only been off for an hour. But still she couldn't help but think,

"What is taking so long?"

She was sitting on a stone just outside the cave. She thought of going inside and wait in the house but, she was too eager for his return to do so.

"I should've gone with" She thought and leaned her chin against the palm of her hand.

She had packed books and magazines, but she couldn't concentrate on any reading material, instead she kept looking at her watch.

Even now she glanced at it and saw that it had only been five minutes since she last checked the time.

Frustrated, she blew out a heavy sigh which caused her bangs to flutter.

"I hate being put on the sidelines" She muttered.

* * *

When Krillin finally reached the village and landed he was horrifyed at the sight.

Everything had been destroyed and all that was left of the inhabitants were dead bodies and body parts that were scattered on the ground.

"This is slaughter" He gasped, appalled as he thought of the cause for this massacre. Or rather the people who caused the massacre.

He walked around the village to look for survivors but could not find anyone.

His shock turned to anger and despair.

"I wish I could take these bastards down" He thought as he passed the bodies of young and old.

When he got to the middle of the village he heard a small voice.

"Urgh..."

Krillin froze as a terrifying thought hit him. What if they were still here? Could he have miscalculated?

He stood completely still and listened. His eyes darting around in fear of any potential assault.

"G-gahr.." Came the voice again.

This time Krillin heard that the voice seemed to belong to a child. And it sounded like the child was injured.

"Hello?" He called out, still cautious but somewhat relieved that his life wasn't in danger.

"Ghaar-" The voice sounded again. Krillin tried localizing it. Slowly walking towards where he thought it came from.

"Where are you?" Krillin inquired while trying to find the source of the childlike voice.

Finally Krillin found him. A small Namekian lying face-down on the ground.

"H-help" He pleaded and held up a shaking hand towards Krillin.

Krillin bent down and took his hand. He tried getting the child to stand but he was too injured, so Krillin sat him down instead and held the little namekian in his arms.

"What happened to you? What happened here?

"We g-got attacked" The child gasped and started to cough. Purple blood was rushing from his mouth and he had to either cough or swallow not to breath it in.

Krillin raised him up a bit and made sure his head wasn't leaning backwards.

"By whom?" He asked even though he was sure to know the answer.

"Aliens" The child answered.

Krillin frowned.

"How did they look like?" He asked.

Hazily, the child glanced at Krillin, too exhausted to focus his gaze for too long he closed his eyes.

"They looked a little like you" Answered the small Namekian.

The bald Earthling raised his eyebrows in shock and thought _"Could they be from Earth?"_

"But..." The child added "they were bigger."

"Really? _"_ Krillin questioned and continued his train of thoughts _"Impossible!... Me and Goku would've felt them a long time ago! Unless, they were hiding..."_

"Y-yes... and they were all vicious." The Namekian responded.

"I can imagine." He answered and thought of the energies he had felt disappearing.

Both of them grew silent for a little while and Krillin started to inspect the injuries of the little one.

Krillin gasped in shock when he saw that the child had a hole in his chest. It surprised him that he had managed to stay alive for this long. The attack had missed the child's heart. But it had punctured both of his lungs, making the wound fatal yet prolonged his suffering. It was almost as if the attacker intended for the blow to avoid sudden death in order to cause maximum pain.

He didn't know what to say to the child. Maybe if he had gotten there earlier he might have been able to save him... But, as things were now. The child would not survive.

As he was about to break the silence, the Namekian beat him to it.

"Not..." The little one began.

Krillin looked at him in confusion.

"Not all of them.." He said with a distant voice.

"What?" Krillin asked.

The small Namekian's lips parted in a weak smile as he said,

"There was... a-a small one and he wasn't cruel"

"A small one?" Krilin repeated.

The child nodded slowly.

"He refused to kill me, despite being ordered to"

Krillin's eyes bucketed as he thought _"It has to be him"_

"Tell me" He queried, "Did the small one have a tail?"

"...They all did" Answered the Namekian.

"All of them?" Krillin asked in complete shock.

"Y-yes..."

"And..." The child began "They all had dark hair"

"They did!?" The Earthling blurted.

Once again, the child nodded in affirmation.

"How could that be?" He thought and stared at the Namekian.

* * *

Several hours later, Bulma found herself on the ground with music in her ears.

She was lying on her back with hands behind her head and kept studying the sky.

"It would've been cool to study the constellation here... "

"Think of the stars I could discover!" She thought "Then, I could name them all..."

A dreamy smile spread across her face."I would name the brightest one Bulma!"

"How suiting!" She squeeled. "Beautiful and bright, just like me"

"Too bad this planet has..." She pointed her finger to the sky and counted.

"Oh!" She blurted. "Three suns, not two"

All of the sudden the bright sunlight disappeared and a shadow appeared before her.

She turned her head upwards and saw a figure that was standing at the edge of her head.

"Krillin, Finally!" She said as she took off her headphones. "Took you long enough"

"Bulma" He said with a frown "You really shouldn't be out here in the open"

"Oh come on" Objected Bulma. "I am a grown woman"

"Well... At least, have your ears free so you can hear if someone is approaching you!" Krillin scolded.

"You're no fun" She muttered and stood up.

"So, how did it go?"

Krillin looked away from her. His whole demeanor changed.

"No one survived..."

He swallowed and continued.

"One managed to live long enough to talk with me. But, I couldn't save him... He was... just a kid"

"That's horrible" Bulma responded.

Krillin closed his eyes at the memory of the child dying in his arms.

Remembering what the child had said he told himself that he had not died in vain. He opened his eyes and turned back to look at the blue-haired woman.

"He said that... the attackers all looked like me"

"What!" She gasped "What do you mean look like you?... You mean human?"

"I think so... but with tails" Krillin said

"Really?" She asked.

"Yeah- but, on second thought they probably look more like Goku" Krillin added, equally confused as Bulma was.

"You mean with the tails?"

"That and the dark hair" He responded.

Bulma raised her eyebrows and stared at Krillin.

"And he also said that they had a child with them" He continued. Not meaning to be so blunt but not knowing how to disclose the confusing information he had about the attackers.

"You mean...?" Bulma began as her eyes grew bigger.

" A child who also had a tail" Krillin confirmed.

"Gohan!" She exclaimed. "It has to be him!"

"That's what I thought!" Krillin agreed.

Both of them looked at each other with excitement.

"So he was kidnapped..." Said Bulma and with a look of sympathy she added "Poor guy!"

"Yeah" Krillin nodded.

"We have to do something... We gotta save him from those monsters!" He exclaimed.

Bulma looked a little hesitant but didn't protest. Instead she said,

"We'd better call the others again and inform them of these news!"

* * *

Miles away, an old Namekian was escaping from his village that was currently under attack.

"I must warn the others!" He thought has he flew through the air as fast as he could. The headwind rippled his robe and caused his attenaes to flicker agaisnt his head.

He tried not to look back, he couldn't bare the thought of his village suffering and he had to focus his powers in order to accelarate his speed.

The route the old Namekian took, he knew by heart. It would take him to the Ajisa fields. The area that was currently filled with their young and powerfull brothers. Once he would reach the fields, the young ones could help destroy these evil attackers. That, he was sure of!

Suddenly, a swishing sound came from behind. The Namekian slighty turned his head to see if someone was following him, but got blinded by a bright light.

Next thing he knew, he felt an immense heat and pressure which caused him to scream in agony. He tried using his ki to push it back, but it wasn't enough.

The energy overpowered him and engulfed his body.

Back at the village three Saiyans were watching as the attack exploded the Namekian into pieces.

"Wow" Nappa gasped in awe as he watched the small pieces fall to the ground.

"That was some good Namekian fireworks!" He barked and broke out into a crude laughter.

"I belive that's the furthest you've ever managed to hit a target at" Vegeta said. And with a hint of ridicule he added "Well done"

"Thank you, Vegeta!" Nappa said with a wide grin.

Radditz raised his eyebrow at Nappa who had completly missed out on Vegetas mockery.

"Shit, I'm hungry!" Nappa complained and walked up to another dead Namekian.

"I wonder if these things are tasty" He said and scrutinized the body.

"Don't bother yourself" Vegeta warned. "They are slugs"

"But" Nappa protested "I'm so hungry!"

"Really Nappa, have some patience..." Chuckled Vegeta.

"Soon you will have all the food you could ever dream of"

Nappa's sour face disappeared and once again, his broad grin was back.

"You're right. They look kinda bony anyway" He said and started to look for any survivors to play with.

This was the second village they had encountered. And it had been an eye-opener to Vegeta as he had realized that the Dragonballs were in fact distributed between villages and not at random as he previously had been lead to believe.

It had angered him because it was quite obvious. First, seeing as the villages were seperated by grave distances. Second, Seeking these Dragonballs were, according to the first elder he encountered, a tradition. And thirdly, there were no wars nor any disputes amongst them.

These peace-loving, slimy bastards had no reason to hide their magic orbs from each other at all!

As soon as he had understood that, he killed the elder he was speaking to. There really was no point in bargaining when he knew the Dragonballs whereabouts. And not to mention, he needed to take out his temper on something.

One more pattern he had noticed when they landed in the second village was that these villages seemed to only consist of children and old ones. When he inquired about it he had come to know of the fields where the young Namekians worked at.  
It was tempting to go there and get a good work-out, some of their powerlevels seemed to be at a satisfactory level according to the scouters, but he thought it better to focus on the wish first.

Afterall... He didn't know when his plan could be revealed.

While Vegeta was deep in his thoughts, Nappa searching for any surviviors and Radditz fetching the second Dragonball. The half-Saiyan was standing a couple of meters behind them.

Gohan was staring at his hands and his whole body was shaking.

He felt so strange, So guilty and so... distant.

With the same scene playing over and over again in his head, he didn't move an inch.

He had refused to do it! But... They had threatened him with his life this time.

"I see no reason in keeping this low-level offspring. If he doesn't make use of himself we'd better dispose of him" He had heard Vegeta say.

"If you don't do it I will kill you" had Radditz said.

And when that didn't convince him his evil uncle added,

"And then we will kill everyone on earth including your mother"

He wanted to be brave, he wanted to be a hero like his father had been but... He was too scared. He feared for his home, his mom, his grandpa... And for himself.

It had all been over so quickly. And yet... that moment had lingered.

"What...have I done" he thought in despair as silent tears streamed down his cheeks.

* * *

Back on Earth, Master Roshi was watching TV when his phone started to ring.

"Oh hello again, Bulma! I didn't think you would call for a while!" The old master greeted once he had found out who the caller was.

"Believe me, after last time... I wasn't planning on it" Bulma scolded.

"But" She added "something came up and we thought it best to tell you guys immidiatly!"

Oolong, who had joined Master Roshi and listened to their call asked,

"What's up?"

"What's up is that we think our suspicions turned out to be true" Bulma answered. "We are pretty sure that Gohan is with those... guys"

"The aliens?" Asked Master Roshi.

"Well..." Bulma started "Actually, we're not even sure if they are aliens"

Oolong and Master Roshi gave each other a confused look while simultaneously uttering,

"Huh?"

"... I know" Bulma answered "It's really weird but apparently they look like Goku!"

"What?" Master Roshi exclaimed.

"They look like Goku!" She repeated.

The old man grew silent.

"Hello?" Bulma called and when he didn't answer she added "Hey Roshi, You there?"

"Yes... I am" He answered with a distant voice.

"What is it?" Asked Bulma, "You sound strange"

"Nothing... I just... It's nothing"

Bulma covered the phone with her hand and turned to Krillin

"I swear that man is growing senile"

Krillin scratched his head and responded

"Well... uhm... Don't forget to ask them about the Spaceship"

"Oh yeah!" She said and turned her attention to the satelite phone.

"Hey Master Roshi! How's my dad doing with the spaceship?" She inquired, "Has he thought of anything?"

"Actually" The old man responded, "I just talked to Yamcha about that"

"Your father said that there's noway he could build a fast enough engine that would take them there in time"

"Are you sure?" Asked Bulma, "What about the blueprints that we used?"

"I don't know of that. But he mentioned something about not having the same materials on earth " Answered Master Roshi.

"Oh no... I had completly forgotten about that" She said with a thin voice.

"Why can't they use the spaceships we have on earth and go anyway? I'm sure you two could hold on for a couple of years." Oolong challenged.

"We're not talking about a couple of years pig-brain!" She snapped. "We're talking about thousands of years! We would all be dead before they even came one-fifth of the way!"

"So we've kinda hit a dead end" Said Krillin.

"Yeah... If there only was some other Namekian ship, then my dad could've built another one " Bulma answered

"And as far as we know... Piccolo was the only Namekian on earth" Krillin stated.

Bulma nodded and said,

"We have no choice but to try and find a way to repair the ship or get another one from the Namekians..."

"Problem is... We can't be discovered by those evil guys" Said the bald monk.

"But" Bulma objected "We can't be stuck here either!"

"There might be one more" Said Master Roshi.

"What?" Asked Krillin.

"What do you mean?" Asked Bulma.

"There might be one more Spaceship on earth" The old man clarified.

"Really?" Bulma questioned.

"Who's?" Krillin asked.

"Goku's"

* * *

"Dende!" Ka greeted the small Namekian who just landed.

"It's good to see you Ka, and you too Geru!" Dende said with a smile.

"Any news from Moori and his village?" Asked Ka and returned the little one's smile.

"Well nothing new exactly, we have had some lectures and story telling... but that is pretty much it" He answered.

"Oh" Said Ka "I remember when I went through the same..."

"It really seems like yesterday you accidentally set fire to elder Tsuno's robe" Geru teased.

Ka rolled his eyes while Dende looked puzzled.

"Well, we can't all be as good as our little Dende"

The small Namekian's cheeks went pink with embarassment.

"I'm not that good" He mumbled and looked to the ground.

"I'm sure you are" Ka answered and put a hand on his head.

Dende's embarassment deepend and he almost forgot what he wanted to ask. But when he finally remembered he raised his eyes.

"I... I was wondering if Reef is here?"

"Hm" Ka answered and turned to Geru "I don't know if I have seen him today"

"I have yet to see him as well" Said the round Namekian. "So that is what brought you here"

Geru gave him a knowing smile and added, "Why don't we help you find him!"

"I don't want to take your time" Dende objected.

"Don't worry yourself, little one" Ka reassured. "We are glad to help"

"Thank you" He said and bowed.

* * *

"Now that was a surprise!" Exclaimed Bulma after she hung up.

"I can't believe it" Krillin breathed.

"That explains his tail..." She said and looked at Krillin with wide eyes.

"And his insane strength" Krillin added.

"And... his huge appetite!"

Both Krillin and Bulma smiled at her comment.

"Wow" Krillin said and turned towards the shoreline.

"It's crazy how he always manage to save us! Even now when he isn't even aware of the situation!"

"Yeah" Bulma agreed. "His ship might be our ticket out of here!"

Krillin nodded.

"All we need to do now is to stay out of those aliens way until the reinforcment arrives"

"Then we'll go home right?" Bulma asked.

The bald monk hesitated.

"We can't leave Gohan behind"

"But, are you guys strong enough to free him?" The blue-haired woman questioned.

Krillin exhaled and turned to Bulma.

"Probably not..." He began.

"But... We have to try! We can't leave him." He exclaimed.

When Bulma didn't look convinced he said,

"He's just a boy... And he's Goku's son"

"Okay... You're right" She reluctantly gave in.

"But, I'll leave this planet with or without you guys!" She warned.

Krillin gave her a knowing look which caused her to object.

"Don't look at me like that!" She yelled.

"I simply don't want to die here"

"I understand" He answered, "Just give us enough time to get him back"

"Okay" She agreed.

"So" Began Bulma, "While we wait, should we focus on locating one of the Dragonballs?"

Krillin blinked and looked up to the green sky.

"Yeah, Let's do it!"

* * *

Several miles north-east from the cave, three Saiyans and one halfbreed was soaring through the sky.

They were heading towards the third village and had to fly over some waste-lands in order to get there.

Vegeta was taking the lead, he was in a very good mood considering the fact that he already had two dragonballs. Nappa, who was just behind his leader was in an equally great mood since he had killed the most Namekians. But Gohan and Radditz, on the other hand, was not as happy. Gohan, who came in last, always had a rough time keeping up with them. Especially now since hís mind was elsewhere and had trouble focusing on flying.

Radditz's bad mood was because he felt humiliated. He had been forced to become nothing but a stupid babysitter, first for the brat and now for these damn dragonballs. He was aware what the magical orbs could bring. More power was always tempting for a Saiyan. But he couldn't help but blaming the dragonballs for his current state. He was supposed to be an elite fighter! And yet, he had been reduced to this... Ofcourse he knew that the dragonballs weren't really to blame for this. _The main culprit was his pathetic little nephew._

He looked back to where Gohan was flying.

The little boy looked so pitiful trying to keep up with the rest of them. It made Radditz sick. He felt a burning desire to end the halfbreed's life. But he knew better than to go against Vegeta's orders. He also knew that the minute he became disposable to the powerful Saiyan, Vegeta would end him.

Radditz gritted his teeth.

"It's maddening just looking at the kid" He thought and looked down.

The fields on the ground was very mundane to look at but at least it was a change of scenery compared to that green water and all those islands this planet seemed to be composed of.

Suddenly, Radditz saw something glistening on the ground.

"Stop!" He yelled at the others.

Vegeta and Napped turned around and approached him. Gohan was brought out of his haze and stopped.

"What the hell is that?" Radditz asked as he pointed with his elbow.

"Hm?" Vegeta looked where Radditz had pointed. It looked like some kind of small building and... a crater! He gestured with his head for them to follow him.

They all landed at the edge of the crater.

The building, they had thought it to be, was damaged and at the top of it was a gaping hole.

"It looks like a crashed spaceship" Said Radditz.

"Indeed" Vegeta agreed, "But it doesn't look like any vessel from the Cold Empire. It looks more like its from here..."

Radditz turned to Vegeta "Then why would the Namekians abandon it?"

"I don't know" Answered Vegeta. "Let's find out"

"Nappa, wait here with the kid" He ordered.

Nappa grunted as a response and Gohan proceeded to look down to his feet.

Both of the Saiyans flew in to the hole to inspect the spaceship further.

The inside was a mess. Different kind of things and gadgets were scattared all over. All of these were alien to the Saiyans.

Most of it seemed like garbage and didn't disclose anything about the spaceship. Vegeta was about to say that it was a waste of time but then he saw something that caught his interest.

It was a picture that had been pierced with several darts. When he walked up to it he saw that it was a photo of a humanoid. The humanoid appeared to be male and did not resemble any Namekian he had ever seen. The male looked more...Saiyan, with dark hair and scars on his face. He also saw that someone had drawn what appeared to be a moustache on the picture and some other things he could not distinguish.

He picked up the photo and raised one of his eyebrows. Someone must have hated this person enough to use his image as a target-practice.

"How strange" He muttered and felt the threatening twinge of a smile.

"Vegeta" Radditz called.

Immidiatly the somewhat flustered Saiyan dropped the picture and turned to Radditz direction.

"What?" He asked.

Radditz walked over to Vegeta and held out one of his hands.

"Look"

He looked down and saw that Radditz was holding a scouter.

"Impossible" Said Vegeta. "They cannot know about this!"

Radditz kept silent and inspected the scouter.

"We were being careful!" Vegeta hissed.

"That damn lizard must have sent a spy after us!"

"Wait..." Uttered Radditz. "There is something... Not quite right here"

"What do you mean?" Vegeta demanded.

"This scouter... I think it's mine"

Vegeta stared at the scouter and ordered,

"Turn it on!"

"We need to know for sure" He added.

Radditz did as he was told but was shocked to see that when he had turned it on, strange symbols appeared on the green screen.

"What's this?" Radditz asked in confusion.

"This is not a language I'm familiar with"

Vegeta took the scouter out of his hands and inspected it. Slowly a sly smile spread across his lips.

"Ahh, I see now"

"What do you see?" asked the long-haired Saiyan.

"It seems..." Vegeta started and turned on his scouter to check if both of them were connected. When he saw that was the case he turned both of them off and looked back at the confused Radditz.

His smile grew more vicious as he said,

"It seems we have a couple of Earthlings here"


	5. Chapter 5 - In Pursuit

Oh god, I'm so sorry for the incredibly late update! I had so much going on between Christmas and almost all of January. Then when I finally got to start with this chapter I got a major writers block! (It also felt like my English vocabulary and grammar just turned to shit) So it was really hard to get this one done at a satisfactory level.

But I haven't given up on this story! I have many things planned and I hope you guys will follow along and that you'll like it!

I made this chapter extra long. I really wanted to get this story going and I also felt like making up a little for the time I didn't upload anything.

Also thank you so much for the feedback! Seriously, It's always appreciated!

And now to Chapter five, I wanted to do a flashback so that's why I'm not doing a recap! Hopefully you guys remember what happened in the last chapter!

* * *

 **Chapter 5 - In pursuit**

 _*Ten months ago*_

 _On a distant planet._ _Vegeta and Nappa was waiting for Radditz, who had gone off to earth in order to recruit the last Saiyan they knew to be alive._

 _The two of them had killed some time by wiping out the intelligent life of that planet and were now feasting on one of its creatures. It wasn't the tastiest but, driven by severe hunger, none of them complained._

 _While taking a big bite out of, what looked to be an arm, Vegeta inspected the surrounding area._

 _They were sitting in a bizarre forest, or 'jungle' as his scouter had defined it as. He found the enviroment absolutely hideous! With ugly looking vegetation and foul looking water.  
What angered him most about this planet, however, was the climate. It was extremely hot. And not the kind of dry heat he had grown up with on his home planet, no, this heat was wet. The humidness drenched him in sweat and the heavy air made his mind foggy. It did not suit his wellbeing at all.  
_

 _The few days they had been on this insignificant planet had gradually worsen both of the Saiyans moods. Nappa's mood had slowly gone down as the numbers of oponents had, While Vegeta was burdened by thoughts of his situation..._ _Usually, he would find comfort in his own growing strength that, he was certain, would someday lead to his true destiny... Though, this place had a very alarming ability of bringing out their darkest mindset._

 _Both Nappa and Vegeta were eager to leave, so the wait for Radditz to return was beyond annoying. Especially, since they weren't sure when he would arrive. If the idiot hadn't dropped his scouter they could have communicated. Fortunetly_ _for Radditz, they had brought a spare one.  
_ _Originally, it was meant for his brother, Kakarott. But seeing as the low-class Saiyan refused to join, they could as well give it to Radditz._

 _The two Saiyans had been surprised when they heard Kakarott's refusal. For them, it was impossible to even try and understand the reasoning behind it. But, it had not exactly been a disappointment. It was amusing to hear Radditz' anger over his younger brother's rejection and Vegeta thought it had served him right. Especially since he had insisted to go to such lengths for a mere, low-class fighter._

 _The planet they had decided to purge next had a high rating and the long-haired Saiyan had argued that they needed an extra fighter to secure their victory. However, As things were now, it seemed that they would have to take on the highly rated planet just the three of them._ _Not that it was much of a concern for Vegeta. Personally, he hoped that the experience would be... life-threatening._

 _In the midst of their food-break, a sudden spark from their scouters jolted them awake. The signal didn't come from Frieza nor any of his henchmen._

 _It came from Radditz._

 _Both of the Saiyans looked at each other with the same perplexity._ _Maybe he hadn't dropped the scouter? But if that was the case, what had taken him so long to respond to their calling?_

 _Vegeta was just about to order him to speak when an unexpected voice came from the other end._

 _"Look guys, I've fixed it!"_

 _Both Nappa and Vegeta froze. The voice they predicted to be coarse like Radditz' was instead soft and feminime._

 _Nappa was about to speak when Vegeta gestured him to be quiet._

 _"Wow... It seems to be some form of scanner. I see numbers on the screen"_

 _Vegeta crossed his arms while listening to the unknown person. He assumed the creature to be an earthling and was surprised to hear that they spoke common-tongue._

 _"I'm not sure what these numbers mean though..."_

 _"Hmm... Master Roshi, stand still and raise your energy. I'm gonna try something"_

 _"It says... One hundred and thirtynine."_

 _Nappa and Vegeta exchanged looks of amusement. A master at power-level 139? Now that was just sad._

 _"I think this device calculates your strength somehow... It's really amazing!"_

 _"That's probably how the attacker found Goku in the first place"_

 _They heard some one else speak, but the sound was muffled and too distant to make out._

 _"Yeah, and Piccolo" Answered the feminime voice, "It's really too bad though.. If he hadn't killed Piccolo, the **dragonballs** would've still worked_ _...Though to be honest, I can't believe that I'm actually sad that he died"_

 _Vegeta's eyes bucketed when those words triggered his memory._

 _He stopped listening to the Earthling and instead focused on his own memories. Deep in thought he bit the tip of his gloved thumb._

 _Dragonballs..._

 _Those words took him back several years ago._

 _He saw a younger version of himself during a planetary raid._

 _He had... found some scriptures about them, yes!_

 _He still remembered the feeling of the very thin and fragile material on his fingers._

 _The scriptures had been a hard read but he specifically remembered comming across the sentence "An old magic which will grant any desire, also known as the dragonballs"_

 _Back then, he had been unaware of the fact that Frieza was spying on him. Even though he had found it too good to be true, he had tried to keep that information to himself by destroying those scripts. But when Frieza had confronted him, Vegeta had known better than trying to conceal the truth from him._

 _He had thought that mishap would result in his death, however, Frieza had overlooked the incident and wanted Vegeta to disclose the information he had obtained._

 _Frieza had thought it to be interesting enough to look for more clues, but had not succeeded in finding anything that would suggest such a magic to exist._

 _Vegeta had rejected the idea from the start. He had thought the scriptures to be nothing but a myth. He knew magic, he had seen magic. Yet the things he had seen had been limited and nothing compared to pure strength._

 _Years passed by, Frieza had stopped inquire about it and Vegeta had stopped thinking about it._

 _Nothing had been heard nor seen._

 _Nothing, until now._

* * *

It felt like days had passed, and still he had not been able to figure anything out!

Like where he was, why he was there... Not to mention where his family and friends were.

This was driving Goku mad!

He had searched every where, but he hadn't found anything!

Even worse was that he felt like he was in some sort of labyrinth. He couldn't find any way out of this strange place. If he tried flying he just ended up where he started.

It was odd, to say the least...

Goku sat down on a piece of wreckage and rested his head in his hands. He was beginning to grow frustrated with this place. The lack of nature and life made him weary and those strange looking ruins combined with constant darkness made him feel like he was in some kind of a ghost movie.

"Damnit" He muttered.

"I can't get out of here when I don't even know where I am!" He continued, needing to utter his feelings after being so quiet for such a long time.

"Have you tried flying?" An unknown voice challenged.

Goku lifted his head quickly and got to his feet. He looked around but didn't see anyone.

"Who said that?" He asked.

"I did"

"Who?... Show yourself!" Demanded Goku.

"Boy, you're slow!" The voice complained.

Out of the shadows, a dark haired woman appeared.

"I am here" She said and grinned mischievously.

Goku recognized the attire and the same grim look.

"Not another Saiyan!" He exclaimed and prepared himself for a fight.

The crude looking Saiyan simply lifed one of her eyebrows and snorted.

"You're one to talk."

"I'll never be like you guys!" He yelled.

"Oh?" She said while raising her eyebrow further.

"Last time I checked, you don't get to choose, **boy** "

"Well last time I checked, you do!" Goku retorted.

"Tch" She clicked with her tongue.

"Such an attitude"

"If you had any kind of sympathy, you would understand why!" He snapped back.

He was getting tired of these Sayians. Comming to earth, interfering with his life, threatening his son... And now this?

"Where are we anyway?" He asked, still agitated.

"Hmm" She pondered, after which she challenged,

"Why don't you tell me?"

Goku didn't understand what she meant by that. Clearly, he wouldn't be asking if he knew it himself.

"I don't have time for this!" He replied.

"What did you guys do to my family?"

The female Saiyan's smile vanished.

"I don't know" She answered with a flat tone.

"What about my son?" He pressed.

"I don't know" She repeated.

Goku felt his patience running out.

"Don't lie to me!" He yelled.

"Did you kidnap him?"

The female Saiyan sighed.

"Look boy, I have absolutely no idea where your whiny son is and I for one think that he could use some time off from his over-protective parents"

Goku gritted his teeth and clenched his fists

"Don't you talk about my son that way!"

"Oh no, did I hurt your little feelings?" She mocked.

"And here I thought you to be a calm and experienced fighter... Perhaps Earth is even more pathetic than I first imagined it to be. I almost pity Radditz for having to go there in the first place"

"There?" Goku thought and looked at her in confusion.

"What do you mean? Aren't we on earth?"

"Ofcourse we aren't! Don't you recognize your own home planet?" She exclaimed.

Goku looked around in shock.

That couldn't be possible! He couldn't have gone there without noticing! And besides, hadn't Radditz said that their home planet was destroyed?

"No... That wouldn't make sense" He answered after a while.

"Ah... Well what could I expect from you, Kakarott" She sighed once more.

"Hitting your head before you even could begin with your mission... What a fate"

"My name is Goku!" He protested.

The Saiyan's face hardened with anger.

"No it isn't!" She exclaimed.

"You were named by the Saiyan that gave birth to you and you should honour her!"

"I don't care! I never knew her!... And I was raised and cared for by my grandpa, Gohan. If there is anyone I wish to honour, it's him" Goku yelled back.

"Hmph, well aren't you an ungrateful one... You don't even have the decency to show respect to your own race!" The crude looking Saiyan argued.

"Why should I?" Goku retorted "I wouldn't care for my race after what you guys put me and my family through!"

"Now, if you don't know where my son is then at least tell me how I can get back to them!"

"And why should I do that?" She challenged.

Goku narrowed his eyes and steadied his ground.

"Look" He began with a calmer voice.

"I don't want to fight you... But I need to get back and help my family and friends!"

The Saiyan broke out into a loud laughter.

"You? Fight me? Come now little boy, you're third class!"

"I'll do what I have to in order to-"

"I know, save your precious family and friends, bla bla bla" She interrupted him.

Goku raised his eyebrows at the Saiyan. She looked fairly young despite her unrefined apperance and wild hair.

"Why do you keep calling me boy? We're roughly the same age" He asked.

It didn't bother him that much, but it was a bit strange.

She gave him a sly smile.

"Because you are still a child in my eyes"

* * *

Two powerful warriors were scouring the northern woods of Mount Paozu. One of them was the triclops, Tien and the other was the small warrior named Chiaotzu.

Both of them had split up and were searching on ground-level for a particular object. The spaceship Goku came with.

Normally, they would have been flying, which were the better option for saving some time as well as covering more grounds. However, they had been told that Goku's ship had been there for many years. Suspecting that vegetation would camouflage it, they chose to search on foot.

They had covered a lot of ground with their immense speed, but Mount Paozu was a very large area and they weren't even sure if the vessel was there to begin with.

After some time of searching, both of them flew up to the sky in order to locate each other.

"Have you seen anything?" Chiaotzu asked as he approached his friend.

"No, you?" Tien countered.

"No..." The small boy responded. "This area is really huge! I didn't think it would be that hard to locate a spaceship"

"Well, we're not sure what size the ship is. Goku was just an infant when he came" Said Tien.

"Yeah... It's gonna be hard to find it if it is small" Chiaotzu agreed.

"For all we know, it could even be under water" Contemplated Tien.

"Please, don't jinx it!" Chiaotzu sighed and looked down in defeat.

Tien smiled and gave him a pat on his shoulder.

"We will find it" He said reassuringly.

Chiaotzu looked up and smiled back.

"You're right" He nodded.

When they were about to go down to the ground again, both of them stopped midair as a distant sound of a motor was heard.

Tien and Chiaotzu looked at the direction where the sound came from and saw that a helicopter were flying towards them.

"Who could that be?" Wondered Chiaotzu

"Don't know..." Tien answered absentmindedly and looked at the approaching chopper.

When it came close enough for them to feel the wind from the propellers, the rotorcraft descended to the ground.

Just as the motor was shut off the two warriors landed in front of it. The door opened and out came a woman with long legs and blonde curls. Her green eyes met their gaze as the warriors faces changed from curious to a mix of confused recognition.

"Hey guys" Launch greeted them.

"What are you doing here?" Asked Tien.

"Looking for you of course!" She answered.

Chiaotzu gave Tien a look of amusement which caused the three-eyed man to feel uncomfortable.

"...Why?" He asked awkwardly.

Launch's forehead knitted into a frown.

"I've been trying to track you down ever since you bailed on me" She said with an accusing tone.

"We...didn't 'bail' on you, you left on your own" Tien hesitantly responded.

"Did I?" She questioned and tried to remember.

"Shit, must've sneezed" She muttered to herself.

"So" Chiaotzu began. "How did you know we where here?"

"The old man told me" She answered and took out a gun from it's holster. With her other hand she reached to her back pocket and pulled out a pink hankerchief with red hearts.

The two warriors stared at her when she started to clean the gun with said hankerchief.

"You went to Kame house?" Asked Tien with his eyes on Launch's gun.

"Yup" She answered while cleaning her weapon.

"Oh, which reminds me" She began and put it back in the holster.

Tien and Chiaotzu waited for her to continue but instead she turned her back to them. Tien looked at Chiaotzu in question, But the small one simply raised his shoulders.

Both of them glanced at her nervously while she went back to the helicopter. She leaned in and grabbed something from the seat.

"I'm supposed to give you this" She said as she walked up to them and held out a small gadget.

"What's this?" Tien asked when he recieved it.

"Some kind of contraption that scientist guy made... It's supposed to help you find something" She answered.

Chiaotzu's face lit up as he realized what she had said. "This is great!"

"Yeah" Tien agreed. "Now we'll find the spaceship in no time"

Launch gave them a suspicious look and crossed her arms.

"You guys looking for a... Spaceship?"

"Yeah" Answered Chiaotzu and smiled.

"What about it?" Tien challenged.

"Nothing... Just find it weird" Shrugged Launch.

"Though, you guys are always up to something so... it shouldn't surprise me"

After a moment of silence Tien said,

"We'd better proceed with our search"

He gave Launch a quick glance and then lifted off the ground.

"Thank you" Chiaotzu said with a polite nod.

"See you soon!" He added to make up for Tien's curtness and followed his comrade.

"Yeah... Later" Launch replied somberly and watched them fly away.

After half an hour, with the help of the locater they had gotten from Dr. Breifs, they finally found the small vessel that had once taken Goku to earth.

"We've got it" Tien said and looked at the round pod that was covered in dirt and moss.

"Let's take it back to Capsule Corp"

* * *

Bulma and Krillin decided to go hunt for one dragonball to keep safe from the hostile Aliens.

After Bulma had yelled at Krillin for dragging her to the cave before she had any chance to retrive her hover-bike, they decided to use the aircar.

"Lucky for you I brought several capsules" She said and gave the bald warrior a resentful look.

Krillin simply swallowed. He had rescued her from being discovered by those evil monsters, but of course she had to yell at him... Though he knew better than trying to reason with her when she was in this kind of mood.

Bulma didn't say anything as well and instead proceeded to start up the vehicle.

Smoothly, it lifted from the ground and with both hands on the steering wheel she accelerated the car.

Krillin saw in the reverse mirror how the cave they were hiding in appeared smaller and smaller. He couldn't believe that they were actually doing this! Though, he knew by experience that thinking too much about it would just make things harder... It would easier if he just could pretend that those aliens didn't exist!

"That's probably how Bulma is able to be so calm about the whole situation..." He thought.

"She can't feel how strong these guys are"

The rush of air ruffled Bulmas hair while the car was making it's way through the Namekian sky, and for a slight moment Krillin got lost in thoughts about his own non-existant hair.

He had been bald so long that he forgot the feeling of having it. He had shaved it all off when he was very young. Ever since he decided to join the monks and becoma a serious fighter. He had chosen this path for glory and recognition... But along the way he'd learnt that those things meant nothing and eventually they would pass. When he became friends with Goku he had sort of realized what true appreciation felt like and that certain things were worth risking your life for.  
But, without his bestfriend by his side he found it so hard to stay positive!

In the end he couldn't really see a happy ending to all of this... The obstacles were simply too big.

"Whatcha thinking about?"Bulma asked cheerfully.

"Just... If we'll make it out of this alive or not" He said.

"Gosh Krillin, talk about bringing down the mood! We haven't even run into those guys and you've already started to predict our deaths" She complained.

"Well then what should I think about?" He asked.

"Uhm..." Bulma began.

"I know something that'll blow your mind" She said with anticipation.

"What?" He inquired.

"Turns out, this planet actually has three suns! Pretty cool huh?" She exclaimed with a wide smile.

Krillin gave her a look of mild surprise.

"...Really?" He asked and wondered how that could make him feel better.

"Yeah, I had to put on extra sunscreen" Bulma responded.

"I mean going without is like a death sentence for my youthful skin! I'd have wrinkles in no time"

"Oh... That's... Harsh" Replied Krillin. Not sure what would be the proper thing to say to Bulmas 'problem'.

After a while Bulma took out the radar. While steering the hover-jet with her left hand she used her right one to check the position of the dragonball.

"Whoa!" She exclaimed.

Krillin looked at her in question.

"I think I can locate the Aliens on the radar!" She explained.

"It seems like they already have two of the dragonballs"

Krillin leaned towards her to see for himself.

"You're right" He said and saw two green dots that were on the move.

"Their location is at the same direction I felt their energys at not too long ago"

Krillin had felt their massive ki moving north-west.

"Look, they stopped" Proclaimed Bulma.

"Hm, maybe they're resting?" Krillin wondered. "It's been almost two days now"

"Maybe" Bulma repeated "I guess even bad guys need their rest..."

"Lucky for us" She added with a grin and sped up the vehicle.

Bulma felt more secure as they put more distance between themselves and the Aliens. If they could get to the village in time, get the dragonball and maybe even get help from some of the Namekians they might just be able to stop those guys...

Perhaps things would look up from now on?

* * *

A feeling of loss and confusion came over the little boy as he was making his way through a thick fog. With no memory of why he felt that way, Gohan kept walking forward as if he had somewhere to be. Around him he could see nothing but contures of what, looked to be, some kind of forest. Upon seeing this forest a sense of déjà vu hit him. Though he wasn't sure why.

He kept walking until the trees that surrounded him grew more thin. Far ahead he saw a rooftop and when he came a little further, countours of a house appeared. He started to recognize it and when it became clear where he was, he felt an aching sensation at the pit of his stomach.

Gohan started to run towards the house, towards his... _home._

Too anxious and excited to slow down he barged in through the front door and started to call out for his family.

"Mom?"

"Dad?"

"... Grandpa?"

But no answer came. He looked in every room, but no one was there. The gray weather and the fog made his home feel unfamiliar to him. He couldn't quite grasp it, but he knew something was wrong...

When he didn't find his parents, he went to the living room and walked up to a drawer. On this drawer, several photos were placed.

Gohan picked up a photo of four smiling people. One of them, a huge man with a beard, the second person in the frame was a young man with black, messy hair and a big smile, the third one was a woman with raven-coloured hair and fiery eyes. And the fourth one was him. Standing between his parents, smiling. However, as Gohan stared at himself in the photo it became clear to him that the happy boy in the picture didn't exist anymore.

When that shattering thought hit him, he started to tremble. And soon he was overwhelmed with his inner turmoil.

His heart was racing with all the anxiety and dread he felt. Tears poured down his cheeks as his shaking increased.

In his chest he felt an unsettling amount of energy which made him grind his teeth in effort to keep it at bay. Hardly managing to do so he tightened his grip on the frame and closed his eyes. The temperature of his body started to skyrocket and he started fearing for his own life.

It felt as if he was going to implode by his own energy.

Then, he heard a faint _crack_

He managed to calm down and opened his eyes.

"No!" He cried.

When he looked down at the photo he had seen that the glass had several crevices and that the frame was broken.

His lower lip started to quiver.

Suddenly, blood started gushing out from the cracks.

Gohan gasped in horror as he felt the red liquid streaming down his hands.

 _The blood was warm!_

Terrified, he dropped the picture.

When it crashed on the floor more blood came out. It ran towards his feet, making Gohan walk backwards.

"S-stop it" He pleaded out loud.

Though, it didn't stop.

"No" He whispered while staring at the crimson fluid.

"Mom!"

"Dad!"

He yelled, his voice hoarse and his eyesight hazy from his tears.

"S-somebody help me..." He cried.

But he knew that there was no one to help him

"No, Go away!" He said, more firmly this time.

The blood kept comming his way, he felt it soaking his feet.

"No!" Gohan screamed and woke up.

Panting, he looked around.

The constant daylight and the blue grass reminded him where he was... _Far from home._

It was almost relieving for the half-Saiyan.

A couple of meters away from him, Nappa was snoring out loud and a sour-faced Radditz was sitting and staring at the horizon.

"Having nightmares, are we?" A nonchalant voice asked.

A surprised Gohan looked Vegeta's way.

The Saiyan leader was sitting on a rock at the opposit side of Nappa and Radditz. He was leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees and just like Radditz, he too were staring at the horizon.

Vegeta had never spoken to him directly and now when he did, it made the little boy nervous.

Without a care for his response the flamehaired man took off his scouter and continued,

"Though, it is not surprising. You are just a little whelp"

Vegeta fell silent for a moment and just when Gohan thought he was done talking the full-blooded Saiyan added,

"Your training seems to have paid off. Perhaps there is hope for you after all..."

Gohan didn't understand what he meant. But for some reason he felt his heart flutter.

Suddenly, Vegeta got to his feet and looked at Nappa and Radditz.

"Let's go" He ordered.

Radditz kicked Nappa awake, who wasn't so keen on the gesture.

"WHAT?" He yelled and got to his feet.

"Time to move" Radditz grumbled.

"Oh..." Nappa responded when he realized that it was Vegeta's orders.

Gohan stood up as well and followed the bigger Saiyans.

He kept thinking about what Vegeta had said. It was very strange, almost like he was glad that the Saiyan leader had spoken to him. He still felt bad and he was quite sure that he didn't like any of these horrible men that had taken him from his family... but, somehow he couldn't help but feel a strange comfort. Like a feeling of acceptance.

It was... confusing.

* * *

Meanwhile on the Ajisa fields, the planting ceremony had come to its end and everyone was preparing to leave for some much needed rest.

Ka, Geru and Dende had not seen Reef anywhere on the fields. They came to the conclusion that the little Namekian probably was back at the village. Before departing from the vast Ajisa fields, they promised Dende that they would say hello for him. Dende thanked both of them and went on his way.

Ka and Geru departed not too long after Dende. Both of the Namekians were tired and quiet during their flight back to the village. A little ahead of them soared the rest of the young adults.

It had been an intense day with an unusually long shift and all of the workers looked forward to get back to their home.

Ka longed to sit by his favourit tree and watch the small ones play. Perhaps he would find Tsuno later on and ask him for help on improving some of his techniques.

Geru on the other hand thought of getting some training done first thing he got back. Perhaps he could get someone to spar with him...

When they were approaching their home, the two Namekians heard some sort of commotion in the front.

At first they didn't think much of it but then they heard screaming.

Ka and Geru flew as fast as they could to catch up with the rest of the gang and when they did, the two Namekians finally saw what was going on.

The village, or rather what was left of it, was filled with corpses.

Both of them just stared.

They could not believe their eyes and they could not believe that this had happened to their home.

"It looks like... It looks like they were attacked" Said one of the Namekians.

Geru, followed by the rest, landed in order to take a closer look at the damage. Most of the buildings were not intact but those that were, looked scorched with holes and cracks in them. Almost like someone had blasted beams through them.

Even though, the damage seemed to be at random, no one seemed to have made it out alive.

"I think you are right" Geru responded.

"But who would do this?" He asked in return.

No one could answer Geru's question...

He walked amongst the bodies of the dead, some he recognized and others he didn't. He felt numb and he struggled with taking in the scenery as well as grasping the situation.

He stopped in front of a big body, the body of Tsuno.

"It doesn't even look like him" He thought. And yet... He knew it to be their beloved elder.

Not many meters away from Tsuno, Geru saw Reef lying on the ground. He wasn't distorted like so many others. He looked peaceful with his hands clasped over his chest. Geru thought it almost looked like someone had put his body like that. _Though that wouldn't make sense._

Ka kept staring at the horrible scene in front of him. He didn't understand! In all his life he had never encountered cruelty like that. He was a proud Namekian and as far as he knew, Namekians did not hurt innocent life!

 _So why this?_

Geru who seemed to share Ka's train of thoughts voiced it to ther others.

"We may have some intruders here" He said.

"I cannot think of any Namekian capable of doing this..."

"But why would they come to this planet?" A fellow villager asked.

Of that, Geru wasn't sure. As far as he knew, no alien had ever visited Namek... So why the sudden interest?

Ka was the first one to think of the dragonballs. He ran towards the building where he last saw the magical orb and when he entered the house he saw that it was gone.

The lanky Namekian felt like his insides were being torn apart. This was the absolute worst case scenario! Getting hold of himself he hurried out of the house.

"Is it there?" Asked Geru.

"No" Ka answered, slightly out of breath.

"It is gone..."

A heavy silence followed his words.

All of them realized that this was no longer just about cold-blooded murder. It was far worse.

"We must warn the others!" Geru said as he took to the air. The rest of the villagers followed his lead.

"But Geru" Ka protested as they were overlooking their destroyed village.

"How will we manage to warn everyone in time?"

"We'll split up!" The sturdy Namekian answered.

"That sounds dangerous" One of the others warned.

"Do we have a better option?" Snapped Geru.

When nobody responded Geru continued,

"Ka and I will go to Moori's village. The rest of you split up in pairs and try to cover as many villages as you can"

Ka looked at his brother and nodded in approval.

It was definitely not their best plan... But the death of their loved ones and them risking their lives were in fact nothing, compared to what was at stake.

* * *

 _"That was easier than I thought"_

Piccolo looked down on the creature he so easily had defeated with a taunting smile.

"Urgh..." The demon grunted.

"If I had known you were this weak I would have gone much easier on you... But considering the fact that I did not feel your Ki even though you used it, I suspected that you were more powerful" Piccolo mocked.

He kept looking at his defeated oponent with curious thoughts on this rare technique.

"I wonder..." He began "How did you obtain such an ability?"

"It is... an ability many of us supernatural creatures have" The beast reluctantly replied.

Piccolo's mocking smile vanished. Replacing it with a questioning look he asked,

"You mean demons for example?"

"...Yes" The defeated one answered.

"All demons?" Piccolo inquired.

"Yes" The creature repeated.

Piccolo stared at the beast in disbelief. He, too was a demon. If it came naturally, then shouldn't he have the same technique?

"... That cannot be true" He objected.

The beast slowly got up to it's feet, still a bit shaky after Piccolos attack.

"Why not?" It asked.

"Because..." Piccolo replied and looked in to the creatures eye.

"I am one of you"

The demon started coughing and gargling. Piccolo could see it's sharp teeth through the big gape that formed when it opened it's mouth.

He raised one of his brows at it's strange behavior and wondered if the beast had hit it's head... or... wherever it's brain was...

He saw how the mouth formed for every strange noise that escaped it and suddenly realized that the wretched beast was laughing, _at him!_

"What's so funny?" He demanded.

"That you think you're a demon!" The creature exclaimed and pointed it's long, clawed finger at him.

"What do you mean 'think'? I know what I am" Piccolo protested.

After all he had known it since he was born. He had always felt the vengeful hate in his veins, that was the very core to his being and it was what fueled his powers.

"Oh, but you do not" The demon replied.

It almost angered Piccolo. How would this creature know anything of value? It was just a weak excuse of an oponent afterall...

But then again, it did say that it was in charge of this area... Though, for all he knew that could be a lie.

"Why should I trust your word for it?" He demanded.

The great beast eyed him with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Because... I am a demon of hell" It began carefully

"I might not be the strongest one, but I can tell when some one is a demon... And I can tell that you are not"

Piccolo wasn't convinced by this and was about to convey it when the demon spoke again.

"However, I understand why you would think that you were one"

"What do you mean by that?" Piccolo asked.

"Your ki" The demon responded.

"It's different from other creatures. Not only is it a ki of a warrior but also the ki of a magical being"

Piccolo wasn't sure if that was convincing enough. However, if the demon could tell all that from just sensing his ki then maybe...

"As well as the more obvious reason" The creature added.

"Hm?" He grunted in question.

"Not many are granted their body in the afterlife. I can only guess that you must be someone important" The creature answered.

Piccolo turned his back towards the beast. He too, had thought about it... In the end he concluded that it had to be Kami's work. Sharing the same destiny, he was bound the get a body if Kami did.

Kami, his counterpart by heritage, was the god of the earth and so Piccolo was his opposite. Born out of Kami's darkest thoughts, a demon of earth. Or at least that was what he was lead to believe...

"If I'm not a demon, what am I?" He asked the beast.

The creature fell silent for a moment.

"... I don't know" It finally answered.

"Your species must not belong to this division"

Piccolo's eyes widened a bit.

 _Division?_

"What does that mean?" He asked

"It means that your species don't live on earth" The demon explained.

"But I did... How is this possible?" Demanded Piccolo.

"I don't know why that is. I have not seen someone like you before" The demon answered.

Piccolo stared at the foul creature. How could this be true? He couldn't accept it! Yet... he couldn't deny it either. Unsettling emotions ached in his chest while millions of thoughts and questions raced through his head.

He needed to be sure, he needed to find out!

 _Perhaps King Piccolo would have a satisfying answer to this..._

"What lies beyond these woods?" Inquired Piccolo.

"You wish to go further?... Why? " The demon asked perpelxed.

"I am looking for someone who is supposed to be beyond this forest" He told the beast.

The demon stared at him for a moment.

"Beyond this forest lies the Fields of Torture" It answered.

"Fields of Torture?" Piccolo repeated.

"It is a treacherous place" The demon explained.

"I suggest you give up immediately. Turn back while you still can! You do not deserve what will come for you if you go there..."

"Your soul may be dark, but it is not rotten"

With his back still turned to the demon, Piccolo responded.

"I doubt that... Besides, what could possibly be worse than turning into a clueless nobody? I'd take any pain as long as I get to keep my sanity"

Behind him, the demon gave off a haughty smile.

"You're a fool" It said and narrowed it's eye.

"Hm, That may be true" Piccolo smirked.

Then he turned towards the two souls who, oddly enough, had not uttered a word for quite some time.

"Listen up you two!" He yelled

"I will go to the fields of torture and I will go alone!"

"Oh no you wont!" One of them yelled back.

"We are friends afterall, and friends don't leave each other"

Piccolo gritted his teeth.

Him being friends with them? The mere thought of it made him want to vomit. Could they really be that stupid?

"We'll stick with you till the end buddy" The other one cheered.

"Hmph... Fine" Piccolo hissed.

* * *

 _"Because you are still a child in my eyes"_

Goku gaped at the female-Saiyan. What did she mean by saying that? Not to mention the way she said it, as if they used to be close...

"Have we met?" He asked in doubt.

"We have" She answered and crossed her arms. Her brown tail unwrapped itself from her waist and slowly waved back and forth behind her.

"And I must say" She continued

"You're the spitting image of your father. Even though I already saw it when you were a baby. It is... even more apparent now"

"Uhm..." Goku hesitated.

Several ideas went through his head. And there was one in particular he couldn't quite let go...

"Are you like... my mom or something?" He asked stiffly.

Another laughter escaped the Saiyans coarse throat.

"No child, I am not your mother... Though I am flattered that you think me so young"

 _"Thank god!"_ Goku thought and asked,

"Then... who are you?"

"My name is Ruubabu and I am your grandmother"

Gokus eyes grew two sizes in pure surprise.

"WHAT?" He half-screamed and stumbled backwards.

"Wait a minute..." He breathed.

"T-this can't be true!"

"Why not?" She asked.

"Well for starters... You're like... young!" He stated and pointed at her.

"Actually, I'm not" She responded. Quite surprised at his sudden mood change.

"Really?" He questioned and approached her in order to take a closer look.

When looking at her, Goku concluded that they did resemble each other. Though, She was much shorter and her eyes were more narrow which reminded him of Radditz. Her hair was long like Radditz' as well but unlike him she had it in a plait.

Even though she did look like she could be related, Goku still couldn't believe it.

"You don't seem that old" He said and got too close for comfort.

At first Ruubabu was surprised at his strange behaviour but when she got to her senses she immediately got angry with his lack of restraint.

All of a sudden, he was pushed back with a huge force and flew a couple of meters away. And before Goku knew what happened, he was on his back.

"Ouch" He groaned and sat up.

"What did you do that for?"

The crude-looking Saiyan gave him a look of disapproval.

"To teach you some manners!" She snarled.

"You seem to need it"

"You and Chichi alike" He muttered and got up.

"Hey, you're pretty strong" Goku realized.

"Are all of you guys that strong?" He asked, remembering Radditz' strength as well.

"Well" Ruubabu began. Her angry features dissappeared and she sighed.

"We were..."

Goku noticed her change of tone. It sounded... sad.

"The meteor?" He asked gently.

As soon as he said it she gave him a questioning look.

"... Radditz said that this planet was destroyed. Along with the rest of the Saiyans, including our parents" He explained.

"But..." He added.

"He didn't mention anything about a surviving grandmother"

Goku's, allegedly, grandmother gave him a crooked smile.

"That's because I didn't"

After she said it, it all became clear for Goku. The suspicion he had all along about him being in the afterlife. He had refused to give in to this feeling because, if this was true, then...

 _He had failed._

"So he must've killed me" Goku concluded in defeat.

The feeling of guilt and anger washed over him... If he only had been stronger!

"Not quite..." Ruubabu responded.

"Wha?"

"He almost killed you" She answered.

Goku almost felt like his head was going to explode! With all of the weird things he had been told recently, this definitely took the price.

"Then...What is this? How can I talk to you if you're dead?"He blurted in exasperation.

"You're in a limbo state" She responded.

"A limbo-what?!" Goku exclaimed in confusion.

Ruubabu sighed. She didn't have the patience to deal with her moron of a grandson!... _But, a deal was a deal_.

"Okay" She started.

"I'll try to explain everything I know"

"Radditz had fatally wounded you. Of course your Saiyan genes bought your friends enough time to find that... Witch, I believe she was. And she put you in this limbo state which kept you from dying"

"Then, I was brought here by King Yemma and that Kami-guy who asked me for this favor"

"What favor?" Goku asked in anticipation.

"To train you"

* * *

Krillin let out a heavy sigh after he got out from the air-car.

It had been a long drive but finally, they had reached the village. Bulma had landed on top of a hill and they decided to carry on by foot so as not to frighten the villagers by approaching too fast.

With a nervous flutter in his stomach he joined Bulma at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the small Namekian village.

"Look at the houses" Krillin said and quirked one of his eyebrows.

"They got pointy-things sticking out of them... Looks a bit strange"

"Yeah" Bulma agreed.

"It looks sorta primitive for a planet that develops spaceships..."

"It might just be a farm of some sort" Krillin speculated.

It did have that quiet, country-side feel to it. Krillin got reminded of those villages close to where Goku lived...

"It looks very peaceful" Krillin thought to himself.

"Let's go and say hello" Bulma suggested cheerfully.

"I'm sure they'll be surprised to see us!"

Krillin swallowed, remebering how nervous he was.

"Yeah" He agreed.

"I just hope they are friendly..."

"Don't be such a downer!" Scolded Bulma.

"Peaceful race, remember?" She said as she made her way down to the village.

"We should still be careful..." Krillin interjected and followed the optimistic woman downhill.

As if anticipating them, some of the elderly Namekians looked their way when they approached the village.

"Wow, they really look like Piccolo" Bulma whispered.

* * *

"Look at this! Another small and boring village" Nappa mocked when the Saiyans landed at their third village.

"I bet they're all just a bunch of farmers" The brute Saiyan spat while looking at the ogling Namekians.

"I think you're right Nappa" Vegeta said with a corrupt smile.

His good mood made him equally exited as Nappa always managed to be. His plan seemed to come together remarkably well and soon he would be _free_...

The euphoric Saiyan turned to Nappa.

"You know what I say about farmers?" He asked.

Nappa's grin grew wider as he answered,

"That they're no better than slaves"

Vegeta chuckled at the correct response.

"These peasants won't do us any good alive so I suggest we get rid of them while the day is still young"

"That'll be my pleasure" Said Nappa and walked towards the terrified Namekians.

"I'm sure it will" Vegeta replied.

While Nappa started engaging in slaughtering the Namekians, Gohan and Radditz stood by and watched.

The small boy stared at the horrifying scene in front of him. He heard the screams of terror and he saw the pain and suffering that was before him... But this time he felt tired and numb, like the terrible things that had happened drained him of all emotions. And the small hope he had of ever being rescued from this nightmare waas long gone.

All of the sudden, Gohan was awoken from his daze by an angry Vegeta.

"Well?" The Saiyan leader barked at a surprised Radditz.

The long-haired Saiyan looked down on the two dragonballs he was currently holding.

"But Vegeta" He protested.

"My hands are full! I don't know how I will-"

"Give one to the kid, you idiot!" Vegeta yelled.

"As you wish" Radditz replied and handed one of the dragonballs to Gohan.

Silently, Gohan took the six-starred orb. It was so big for him that he had to use both his hands. The surface felt smooth and quite cold in his grasp. It reminded him of earth, of the four-starred dragonball that his dad once gave to him... While looking at it he saw, in the blank reflection, that Radditz was staring at him. He slowly raised his head and locked eyes with his uncle.

Without saying anything Radditz averted his eyes from the half-breed and walked away. There was a time when he was sure that the wretched brat would be the arrend boy...

Cursing his bad luck he started to look for the third dragonball.

Gohan, who was unaware of Radditz' illl will towards him, followed his uncles movment until he was out of range. It was then he saw it, at the corner of his gaze. An old Namekian, quietly making his way out of the village and in his grasp was another dragonball. The dragonball his evil uncle was looking for!

The small boy felt as if his heart had started beating again after a flatline. He grew scared for the Namekian and looked around to see if any of the Saiyans had noticed the escaping villager.

He was relieved to see that none of them had.

Nappa was fighting off a bigger Namekian while Radditz was moving in the opposit direction. And Vegeta was watching Nappa. Or, at least appeared to be watching Nappa.

What Gohan failed to understand was that the flame-haired Saiyan had other things occupying his mind. Things that he made sure Gohan didn't know about. Like the recent discovery... The fact that it wasn't just them and the Namekians on this planet.

"So, some Earthlings decided to come here as well... For the dragonballs, no doubt" Vegeta thought.

"But why didn't their scouters alert them?"

He considered whether or not he should be concerned. He hadn't heard much about planet Earth, other than it being a low-priority planet with weak innhabitants. And, since their scouters hadn't registered anything out of place, the Earthlings that was here ought to be insignificant.

"After all, Kakarott was supposed to be the strongest on earth and Radditz ended his life" He thought and looked at the half-breed whelp. His thoughts came to a halt when he noticed the boy's troubled expression. The kid's eyes were all over the place. As if he wanted to look at something he wasn't supposed to.

"What's going on with him?" Vegeta wondered.

Gohan tried not to showcase his emotions but he wasn't doing a good job. Vegeta managed to trace his gaze to the Namekian who was getting away.

Without saying anything he dematerialized and appeared in front of the terrified Namekian.

"Trying to get away, are we?" He asked.

"I-I wont allow you to take it" The old villager said.

"Too bad" Vegeta snorted and blasted a small beam through the Namekian's left leg. He screamed in agony and fell down to his knees.

The flame-haired Saiyan grabbed the dragonball and kicked the old villager so he flew several meters away.

Raddtiz stopped his searching as he saw the Namekian fall to the ground. When he looked back he saw that Vegeta had the dragonball.

"Lucky I spotted it in time" Vegeta thought as he returned to his previous spot.

"What happened?" Radditz asked while approaching them.

"The boy has made himself quite usefull" Vegeta said with a smug smile.

"Huh?" Gohan blurted. The boy was sure he would get punished for trying to hide his discovery from them.

"What do you mean?" Radditz asked in disbelief.

"He discovered the pathetic Namekian that tried to escape" Vegeta explained.

"It seems he has better eyes than you have"

Radditz got provoked by Vegeta's comment and more hateful towards his nephew.

 _Damn brat, always manage to make me look bad!_

"If he hadn't helped us... Who knows how far that slug would've gotten" The Saiyan leader continued.

Gohan didn't know what to belive. He thought he had been trying to help the Namekian... But now, Vegeta said he had helped the Saiyans instead?

The long-haired Saiyan kept struggling too, but not with confusion like Gohan was. He was struggling with his anger. How did that damn nephew of his manage to outshine him? This wasn't supposed to happen! The whelp was supposed to take his place. The boy was supposed to be at the bottom of the group so Radditz no longer had to suffer the mockery from his fellow Saiyans...

Vegeta didn't care much for Radditz' look of disapproval. Agitating Radditz was not his main goal. It was not the reason why he pretened that the half-breed hadn't tried to cover up for the fleeing Namekian. In fact, had this taken place a couple of hours ago he probably would've killed the boy for standing in his way. However, something had occured when the half-breed was having nightmares not too long ago...

The son of Kakarott, spawned from a third-class had reached the same numbers Radditz did when he was at his full power. How could his ki skyrocket the way it did? How could a small kid power up like that in his sleep?

Usually, he wouldn't care about other people's strength. But, there was something strange about the half-breed. He needed to find out more, and if that meant messing with a dumb kid's head then that wasn't much of a stretch for the Saiyan leader.

"But" Vegeta thought and crossed his arms.

"The brat really got lucky this time! Had the Namekian got away... Then, even his dormant strength hadn't been a good enough reason to keep him alive"

"Had the Namekian got away to hide the dragonball... " Vegeta realized.

"We wouldn't have been able to locate it!"

His frow deepened as he kept thinking about it.

"That means... Since we can't distinguish those Earthlings from the rest of the weak creatures of this planet... We won't be able to find them if they get hold of the rest of the dragonballs!"

"But... With their weak power-levels they can't have gone far. Unless, they have some sort of fast transport or flying capability which doesn't require ki..."

"I can't risk them getting one of the dragonballs out of the villages! Afterall, the Namekians power-levels is the key that allows us to find these magical orbs in the first place"

"We had better hurry up with our search! Or else these Earthlings might cost us a significant amount of time"

"Perhaps we need to split up"


	6. Chapter 6 - Friends or Foe

Once again, I'm sorry I'm so slow these days! I'm striving for a monthly update and yet I manage to take two-three months instead! -_-''

Life's been a bit hectic and I really don't do well under pressure. Somethings also takes time to figure out because ven though I've made up my mind on where I want the story to go, there's still some details I haven't decided yet. Anyway, as usual, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I appreciate all of you, taking your time to read this!

* * *

 **Chapter 6 - Friends or Foe**

"Split up?" Nappa repeated.

Vegeta had just told them of his plan. But instead of getting the picture like he had hoped, both Nappa and Radditz seemed to get even more confused.

"Why?" Radditz questioned.

The flame-haired Saiyan, who stood in front of them, crossed his arms.

"Let's just say, I have a feeling that we're running out of time"

"Whaddaya mean?" Inquired Nappa.

"I thought we hadn't been caught"

"We haven't... _Yet_ " Vegeta responded with a stern look.

"But, we can never be too careful. Recent circumstances has made me believe we need to up our game... If you two catch my meaning"

Radditz nodded, he understood Vegeta's hint about the Earthlings while Nappa kept his look of bewilderment.

"I don't get it" The brute Saiyan shrugged.

"But, You're the boss"

Vegeta grunted at Nappa's never ending stupidity. However, at least he had the decency to know his place...

"I'll go east so I suggest you two go in the opposit direction"

The Saiyan leader held up four of his gloved fingers and continued,

"There are four dragonballs left to find and according to my scouter there's two villages to the west of here. I want you to go to both of these villages"

"You think they have two of the remaining dragonballs?" Radditz asked.

"There's no doubbt about it" Vegeta responded.

"Four dragonballs, two villages to the west and one to the east... That's where we will find them"

"Just one to the east?" Radditz remarked.

"Yeah! You said four and now you're saying three?" Nappa added when he too realized what Vegeta had said.

"Yes" The Saiyan leader answered.

"I belive the last one to be hidden somewhere... and I intend to find it"

Radditz gave him a puzzled look.

"But how will you-"

"Don't you worry about that!" Vegeta barked.

"Focus on the villages to the west and when you're done, contact me through the scouter. But DON'T use the term Namek or dragonballs while it's on. Just say that you're done and we'll agree on a meeting spot"

Vegeta's eyes wandered from his two subordinates to the halfbreed who was standing behind them.

"Take the kid with you. I can't be bothered with him for now"

Gohan swallowed nervously at the unwanted attention. The few seconds Vegeta looked at him felt like minutes and he was relieved when the Saiyan leader's attention finally shifted to his uncle.

"Oh and Radditz..." Vegeta started.

"Yeah?" The long-haired Saiyan responded.

"The kid is your responsability. Any mistake he make and I'll hold you accountable"

Radditz narrowed his gaze in restrained anger. It was hard, though he knew better than trying to protest or defend himself.

"Go now and **DON NOT** forget what I said" Vegeta warned them.

"Yes, Vegeta" Nappa answered.

"Come on Radditz" He said to his comrade and took off.

Radditz awoke from his gaze and turned towards his nephew.

"Keep up or die" He threatened the half-breed before following Nappa.

Gohan breathed in deeply and took off from the ground.

* * *

The walk downhill was steep and both Krillin and Bulma was sweating. For Bulma it was particularly warm in her thick spacesuit and she regretted not changing clothes back at the cave. Krillin,on the other hand, was sweating because he was nervous. Sure, the village looked small and peaceful but, like Bulma previously said, the villagers really did look like Piccolo... So much that Krillin couldn't shake the feeling of being in danger. He kept reminding himself of that innocent little child he had encountered. However, the adults didn't look as helpless as the little Namekian had.

As they came closer, more and more villagers began to notice. And when they finally reached the village, Everyone had gathered to watch as the two Earthlings approached them.

They all pretty much looked the same as well. Some were taller and some were broader. But all of them had green skin, pointy ears and two antennas sticking out of their forehead.

The villagers were huddled together in a crowd and at the front of it stood one, sturdy looking Namekian. He seemed to be quite old and was neither the tallest nor the strongest looking out of them... Yet, he had an air of authority.

"That must be their leader" Krillin thought.

Bulma was under the same impression and decided to adress him.

"Uhm, Hi-Hello there..."

But he didn't answer. Instead he looked at his fellow Namekians and spoke. At first, Bulma and Krillin thought they misheard what he said but then they realized, he was speaking in Namekian!

The two Earthlings looked at each other helplessly. They couldn't understand a word.

Even though Bulma had learnt some of their language. She felt as if the sounds coming out of the Namekians mouth were completely different compared to what she had heard from studying the ship as well as learning from Mr. Poplo. She had also stopped studying the language when her father helped her install another system. Through his latests set of algorithms they could, not only, translate the language but also install a button-based command.

She realized now that she never should have stopped learning Namekian. However, the fact that a language barrier could occur and actually be a problem had been overlooked. It was such a simple mistake that both Krillin and Bulma berated themselves for it. However, it was not enough for them to give up.

"Do you uhm... understand us?" Bulma hesitantly asked with her gaze wandering from Krillin to the Namekians.

When none of them answered her, she moved closer to Krillin and mumbled "What should we do?"

Krillin shrugged which made Bulma fume. She wanted to yell at him but wasn't sure how the villagers would take it. So instead she gave him a look of anger.

"Well what'd you expect? I don't speak Namekian!" He said to his defense.

Bulma groaned in defeat. How could they be so unlucky? Overcoming the vast distance of Space, then having to hide from evil aliens... and now _this?_

"I wish I'd built some sort of universal translator" She mumbled to herself.

She could've easily done so if it only had crossed her mind before coming here. All she needed was some parts that she could re-model and-

Suddenly she was hit by a solution!

It lightened her mood and she gave herself a mental pat on the shoulder for being so sharp.

"I got my capsules!" She blurted in excitement.

Perplexed, Krillin raised his eyebrow.

"What?"

Bulma quickly glanced at the quiet Namekians before she turned to her fellow Earthling.

"Look, I can build a universal translator using my Dad's previous research!"

"Really?" Krillin asked, amazed at the innovative thinking the Briefs possesed.

"It may take some time though... It can't exactly be the same as my Dad's, since he translated a system that was already based off mathematics"

"But I think I can do it!" She said with a confident grin.

"All I need is adjustable hardware, a microphone and a pair of speakers..."

Krillin wasn't at all familiar with engineering. But even so, he couldn't help but think it impossible.

"How can you do that when you don't know Namekian?"

Bulma reached for her pocket while answering.

"I can do it by creating an algorithm based on the brain's correlation to phonetics "

She took out her capsule-box and opened it.

"It has to be something that can be put on so it can measure exactly where the reaction takes place in the brain..."

"Like a hat?" Krillin suggested, seeing a rather comical image in his mind.

"Not necessarily" Bulma answered, while going through her capsule-box.

"Anyway, lets just hope these guys have similair brains to ours" She added as she grabbed one of the capsules. She raised her arm to throw it but before she had any chance to, Krillin interrupted.

"Wait!" He yelled.

"It might scare them!"

"What do you mean?" She asked with her arm in the air.

"The sudden noise your capsules make might sound like an attack"

"... You're right!" Bulma agreed.

"We gotta make sure they know we don't wanna harm them first"

"But how do we do that?"

"I... I don't know" Sighed Krillin.

"But, we'd better think of something fast! Anything is better than nothing"

The Namekians remained silent. All of them staring at their strange visitors.

Bulma turned away from Krillin, with one idea formed in her mind. However, she really didn't want to go through with it! She desperatly tried to think of anything else... but nothing came to mind.

She looked back at her friend, hoping that he'd come up with a better idea. But his puzzled look told her that he hadn't and she decided that maybe they didn't have a choice. They were running out of time and if she could get them to at least understand that they were peaceful... Then she could start building the translator.

" _Here goes nothing_ " She thought and took a deep breath.

"HELLO THERE!" She yelled, causing some of the villagers to flinch.

Krillin quickly awoke from his deep thoughts and faced Bulma with a look of shock.

"WE COME IN PEACE" She articulated as clearly as she could and tried using her hands like she was communicating in sign-language.

The villagers stared at her wide-eyed while she was waving her hands, gesturing and trying to get them to understand her.

"WE. ARE. NOT. HERE. TO. HARM. YOU"

"... We do speak common-tongue as well" The sturdy Namekian, who stood in front of the villagers, finally said.

Bulma froze with her mouth half-opened.

"Huh...?"

"Oh right!" Gasped Krillin.

"The little one I talked to could speak the same language..."

Bulma, who suddenly felt ridiculous, turned to him.

"Why didn't you tell me before I made a fool out of myself?"

"I'm sorry... I thought I did-"

"And we are sorry too" The sturdy Namekian intervened.

"We should have spoken up about it sooner. But to be honest, we were all worried if you... Well, we were worried about your intent for visiting us... But seeing as you so... _wholeheartedly_ wanted us to understand that you mean no harm. I think it is worth rewarding you for that amount of effort"

Bulma felt her face turn red in embarassment while Krillin pressed his lips in order to contain the sudden amusement he felt.

Bulma saw his hilarity and frowned.

"It's not funny!" She hissed with her arms crossed.

Not being able to hold it in anymore, Krillin broke out in laughter. Causing Bulma to huff and the Namekians more confusion.

When he was done, tears had formed at the corner of his eyes. He wiped them and sighed... It really felt good to laugh after so much tension.

"Well..." The old Namekian began, once again.

"I'm sorry to disturb your amusement. But, who are you?"

"My name is Bulma, and the laughing idiot here is Krillin" Bulma said with a scowl.

"Hi" Krillin greeted apologetically.

"My name is Moori and I'm the elder of this village" Said the Namekian.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Moori!" Krillin bowed.

"We're from a planet far away named Earth"

"Earth you say?" Elder Moori responded.

"Never heard of such a planet, though we haven't travelled through Space for several centuries"

"Really?" Asked Bulma.

"So... you wouldn't happen to have some old spaceships lying around, would you?"

Elder Moori was surprised to recieve such a question. He couldn't help but wonder why Aliens who were capable of interstellar travel would inquire about ancient, Namekian spaceships.

"Hmm, To my knowledge all of our high technology was destroyed quite some time ago..."

"Damnit!" cried Bulma. Once again shocking the villagers with her emotional outbreak.

"You see, we crashed our spaceship so... We were kinda hoping on being able to buy one here" Krillin explained.

"I'm sorry to hear that" The Elder answered.

"And I apologize for not being able to be much of assistance"

"That's just our luck" Bulma sighed.

Krillin also felt disappointed but he decided to focus on the important task at hand. Keeping the Dragonball away from those aliens...

"It's not your fault" He assured Elder Moori who in response gave him a grateful smile.

"But we-uhm have something else to ask you" He began hesitantly.

"Yes?"

Krillin scratched the back of his head and began,

"You see, the reason we came here is..."

"STOP IT!" Yelled an unexpected voice from above.

"Wha?" Krillin said and looked up in surprise.

Two Namekians landed swiflty between the Earthlings and the Namekians. They looked younger than Elder Moori, one of them broadly built and the other one lanky with a tall nose.

"If you wish to harm them you'll have to go through us!" The broad one threatened.

Krillin stared at them in shock.

"What are you-"

"You can't fool us! We saw what you did back there you _murderers_!" The other one shouted

Krillin and Bulma exchanged puzzled looks.

"Murderers?..."

* * *

Ever since they entered the forest, Piccolo's two travelling companions had been sure to tell him that it wasn't too late to turn back.

"It's not that bad ya'know" The cackling one said.

"It really isn't" The annoying cloud agreed.

"Sure the red sky and pond of blood isn't that inviting but once you get used to it, it's kinda pretty!"

However, Piccolo would hear nothing of the sort.

"I refuse to give up and let myself turn into one of you morons" He grunted.

"What d'ya mean?" The cackling one asked.

"You afraid of forgettin' who you were?"

Piccolo closed his eyes for a slight second. He saw an image of himself, born as the son of the demon, king Piccolo. Through his heritage he had gotten great powers as well as a desire for world dominance. But he had also obtained a certain _dark-haired fighter_ as his Nemesis.

As he saw Goku's face in his mind, the features changed into the long-haired alien that, so suddenly, had appeared on his last day alive. He saw himself getting blasted through the chest by that strange, yet powerful, alien. And then, nothing...

His short life had consisted of getting enough power to defeat Goku. And the last couple of years he had spent training for a much anticipated re-match. He had been certain that he would come out as the winner. But he was also prepared of the possibility that he could loose. If that happened he would at least go out as the second strongest warrior in the world. A fate, he did not mind compared to his current situation... Back then, he would have never guessed that his life would end by the hands of a complete stranger. And not only that, but also that said stranger would be far superior to him. Back then, he had been sure that his powers as well as Goku's had reached the physical limit of the mortal world. That he and Goku were gods among insects... But he had been proven wrong.

It made him feel ashamed. Ashamed that he had died so quickly as if he was nothing.

He opened his eyes and willed away the emotions and thoughts that told him it was best to let everything go.

"I'm not afraid" He answered and kept on walking in silence.

The two souls turned to each other and shrugged. The green man was confusing at best! Still, now they knew him enough to refrain from nagging him to open up.

After a while, Piccolo started to notice a slight change in the enviroment. At first, he was sure he had himself fooled. That he was imagening the sky turning a shade lighter as they pressed on. However, when it started to turn pink and the dark thorns grew more scarce, he could no longer deny it. They were approaching the end of the forest.

"Whoa guys! Looks like we've finally made it" Exclaimed the annoying one.

"Yeah! You can sorta see what's beyond!" The other, cackling one, agreed.

"Hmph" Piccolo grunted. It had been so nice when they stayed quiet...

Still, they were right. Now he could make out huge terrains beyond the tree-sized thistles.

They kept walking until they were at the very edge of the forest. The sky had grown real bright and in front of them were vast fields filled with colourful flowers.

Piccolo stared at the oddity that layed before them.

"It looks... deceitful" He thought.

"Wow, What a beautiful field!" The cackling cloud exclaimed.

"Makes you wanna run and pick flowers"

It soared out in the open, without a thought of caution. An act which made Piccolo uneasy.

"CAREFUL!" He yelled.

"Remember, this is supposed to be were the most vicious souls get cleansed"

"Oh come on!" The cackling one objected.

"I'm sure they wont torture us. We're not even supposed to be here"

"All the more reason to be careful" Piccolo responded.

"We don't know what or whom is doing the torturing..."

"But-" The cackling one tried.

"Just listen to him will ya!" The annoying cloud scolded.

Slowly, the cackling one floated back to them.

"Alright" It said.

"But you know we gotta go out sooner or later if you wanna find that guy"

Piccolo ignored his comment and surveyed the fields. He didn't see anything that looked like a potential threat.

"Stay behind me"

Reluctantly, he stepped out of the comforting shadows from the outer rim.

"Out here, there will be nowhere to hide" He concluded.

Not that he was doubting his ability to fend for himself. Just, there was definitely something off about this place. The fields, they seemed so calm. It was unsettling...

* * *

The two Saiyans soared with great speed through the green sky. With Nappa at the very front and Radditz not far after.

A couple of meters behind them flew the smaller half Saiyan. The boy had a harder time keeping up with them than usual. They flew even faster than they normally would. And the lack of rest and nourishment made him feel almost lightheaded. Still, he kept on with the memory of his uncle's threat fresh in his mind.

 _"Keep up or die"_

Said uncle kept track of his nephew. Frankly, he was surprised that the boy managed to keep up at all. It wasn't that long ago the brat hardly managed to jump at a decent height, not to mention his complete lack of control when it came to his ki...

"Hmph" Radditz grunted with a crooked smile.

"He learns fast for his age... I'll give him that"

Despite him being impressed with Gohan, he still regretted his choice of bringing the boy along.

It had been a desperate and foolish decision. Made to cover up his failure when trying to recruit Kakarott. He knew that Vegeta didn't care much for his younger brother, what he had feared however, was the state he was in when he returned. His fellow Saiyans wasn't much for putting up with injured companions and Radditz had, surprisingly enough, sustained some damage when he fought on Earth.

He vividly remembered the critical moment when he returned to Vegeta and Nappa with his unconscious nephew in his grip.

 _"What the hell do you think we are? Babysitters?_ _We don't have time for childrens games, nor do I have the patience to deal with your weakness!"_

 _"Vegeta wait, you don't understand! The brat he... He clocked at 500 in a matter of seconds"_

 _"Is that supposed to make me impressed?_ _Tch, you're pathetic!_ _"_

 _"But, He's untrained! With dormant powers like that he'd make a good soldier. He's a child so his mind is moldable"_

 _"I don't have any interest in raising a stupid, ingrate half-blood!"_

 _"He would aid you... He would be your loyal subordinate. Think about it Vegeta. Whatever you have planned for us... Our future legacy..."_

Radditz wasn't sure how he had managed to change his leaders mind. He just remembered how Vegeta's expression had changed and how he so curtly had responded.

 _"Hn. Very well... He'll be your responsability..."_

Now he suspected that it all had to do with the dragonballs and Vegeta's plan to defeat Frieza. But even so, he had been lucky. It was very seldom Vegeta listened to anyone's plead or advice for that matter. However, luck did not warrant him a greater rank amongst his fellow warriors. In fact, relying on Gohan as an incentive to spare his own life was dangerously close to the cowards way. Something that brought shame to the long-haired Saiyan. Though shame was not something he could cope with so instead he did what any self-respecting Saiyan would do, turn his shame into rage and projecting it all on his Nephew.

A couple of minutes later, Radditz was back to staring at the approaching horizon. When his eyes drifted to Nappa he started to wonder whether or not Nappa had properly checked his scouter.

If they wasted their time going in the wrong direction... It'd be bad, really bad.

Radditz quickly pulled back his arm in order to check his scouter.

"Where the hell is Nappa flying?" He wondered out loud when he had turned the scouter on.

"Nappa!" Radditz called out and sped up.

"What?" The brute Saiyan answered.

"We're going the wrong way!"

Nappa came to a halt and Radditz followed his example.

"According to my scouter we need to go in that direction" Radditz explained and pointed south-west.

"But that would lead us back to where we came from" Nappa objected.

Gohan, who finally caught up with them, stopped just behind them. He didn't understand what was going on. Neither did he have the courage to ask.

"No you idiot!" Radditz yelled.

"We came from that direction, See? That's North-east" He explained.

Nappa gave him a suspicious look.

"Just check your damn scouter and you will see that I am right!"The long-haired Saiyan suggested in annoyance.

"Fine!" Nappa seethed and followed Radditz' instruction.

"Hmm... You might be right on this one" He grunted.

"But don't let this go to your head, Radditz. You're not so smart as you think you are!" He yelled and flew away.

The strong wind caused by Nappa's ki ruffled Raddtiz' hair. And the Saiyan clenched his teeth in annoyance.

"Hmph" He grunted and followed Nappa's example.

* * *

"Wait a minute!" Goku Blurted.

"What?" Sighed the impatient Saiyan.

"It just doesn't make any sense... I mean, why wouldn't they give me a sensubean? It shouldn't take that long for the beans to grow"

Ruubabu stared at her goof of a grandchild and for the first time she found herself clueless as to what he was saying.

"What is a 'sensubean'?"

"Uh..." Goku hesitated.

"Well, they are beans that restore your health!"

"So you see, it really doesn't make much sense that I'd be in a coma" He explained.

"I wouldn't know much about that" She said.

"All I know is that your life was hanging on by a thin thread when you were put in this state. And that this very thin thread is slowly growing into a thick rope which eventually will bring you back to conciousness"

"...A thread that turns into a rope?" Goku repeated wide eyed.

"Is it a magical rope?"

Ruubabu felt a pearl of sweat slowly making it's way down her temple.

"What?-No!"

"It was a figure of speech!" She yelled.

"Oh" Goku nodded.

"I'm not good with stuff like that"

"... Clearly" Ruubabu responded curtly.

"Ahem" Goku cleared his throat after a moment of awkward silence.

"So... how does this work?"

"Work?" Ruubabu repeated.

"Yeah! You said you'd train me... But, If I'm in a coma... How will I become stronger?"

Ruubabu smiled at his ignorance.

"It is funny how you don't seem to know the tremendous potential you have as a Saiyan warrior"

Goku's face hardened. The word Saiyan really brought a bad taste in his mouth...

"What do you mean?" He asked flatly.

"Everything you do, and I mean _everything_ , will improve you as a fighter"

Goku raised his eyebrows.

"Everything?... I'm not sure what you mean now" He said.

"Our race is classified as a warrior race for a reason, boy. Not only are we born as excellent fighters, we thrive and grow stronger everytime we fight." Ruubabu explained.

"We learn as we observe, making us the most adaptable fighters throughout the universe. Few can match our strength and ferocity!"

Goku felt his stomach flutter a little. _'Adaptable fighters'_ Now that was something he could get excited about...

"But how is that supposed to help me if I'm in a coma?" He asked, trying to keep his sceptic mood.

Her eyes glistened in pride.

"Because your body is in a healing state and not only does your body replenish itself. It grows stronger!"

Goku gave her a puzzled look.

"Poor boy doesn't even know his own capabilities! No wonder he almost withered away during his mundane life on Earth..." Ruubabu thought.

She stretched out her arm in a demonstrative way and continued,

"This world, this magic-aided comatose you're in right now, allows you to train yourself mentally. It allows you to observe and learn even though you are unconscious"

"...Really?" Goku asked in disbelief.

"Yes" She answered.

"Think of it as a dream you're having. Only difference is that I am the one to decide it's setting and it's rules"

"So.. what you're saying is... that you're controlling my mind?" Goku asked, trying to make sense of the situation.

"In a way, yes. I am controllling the enviroment you're in, To put it in a way you'd understand. And it's all for the purpose of training you." She clarified.

"Wow, I can't wait!" Goku excaimed in excitement.

"When do we start?"

Rubbabu chuckled.

"Right now" She said with a vicious grin and de-materialized.

Goku was surprised at her sudden disappearance but recuperated rather quickly. His senses got right to work, starting to feel out her presence.

"Try to keep up, Kakarott!" She yelled, her voice distant.

"I will" Goku said with a determined smile.

* * *

"Goodness me!" Mr Briefs uttered in pure awe when Tien put down the gray and moldy spacepod.

"Such a small and roundly shaped object!"

"Yeah" Yamcha concurred. He didn't know what he had expected it to look like though he knew at least that he hadn't expected it to be so tiny.

Tien, Chiaotzu and Yamcha had all gathered inside Dr. Briefs lab to assist him with the vessel. Tien had been the one to carry the pod inside while Yamcha and Chiaotzu had followed behind, employing him to be careful.

Dr. Briefs turned to Tien, his mouth slightly agape with a cigarette dangling from his lips.

"Can this really be it?"

"It is" The three-eyed warrior responded.

"According to your device. But, we're still not sure" Chiaotzu clarified.

"Well, lets find out" The short scientist suggested and started to feel out the round pod, looking for a potential opening.

"Ah" He exhaled as he felt what could be the entry.

He tried putting on some pressure, with the intent to release the hatch from the rest of the vessel. But it was, as he suspected, not enough.

"Krillin, was it?" He adressed the Triclops.

"Could you help me with opening this?"

"It's Tien - And yeah sure" The three-eyed warrior answered.

Dr. Briefs stepped back. Giving Tien enough room to open the hatch.

"Try not to damage it too much" He warned when the bald warrior put his hands on the round pod.

Tien nodded and applied a controlled amount of force in his grip.

A soft _click_ and then a swishing noise was heard as the pod realeased it's grip from the hatch. Tien tried to, carefully, pull down the door but felt an invisible force already pulling the hatch down towards the ground.

"It must be automatic" He thought and released his grip. He then took a step back and joined the rest of the gang in observing the strange vessel.

Dr. Briefs took a small drag from his cigarette.

"Well, time for a closer inspection" he said while arching his back a little in order to enter the pod. He took a careful step on the hatch and with his right hand he grabbed the edge of the entrance for better support.

The inside of the pod was very small and uncomfortable to stand in. He sat down in what reminded him of a soft chair while eyeing the vessel from within.

The layout was more like the technology he was used to, with buttons and keypads. However, the written symbols that was above, or sometimes on the buttons, were completely foreign to him.

"I suppose this spacepod didn't come with any instructions" He joked. Knowing that it would take some time to figure out how to manuever the ship.

"Though, thankfully it seems easier to manage than the Namekian one" He thought and got up from the chair.

"However" He noted, the size did concern him and it was hard for him to fathom that this could be the main vessel. His knowledge told him that it ought to be too small. After all, even the Namekian ship was bigger than this. It made him suspect that it could be some sort of landing device that hade been part of a bigger ship... He could only hope that he was wrong.

When he climbed out of the small pod he was met with anticipating eyes.

"What do you think?" Asked Yamcha while watching the short man light up another cigarette.

"It's too early to say for sure... I need to take this vessel apart for proper assesment" He responded.

"But, It doesn't seem to be as complicated as the previous ship. If the energy source and vital parts are intact enough for me to use. Then, I would be so bold as to say that it might not take as long as it did fixing the Namekian one"

"Finally some good news!" Yamcha exclaimed with an excited grin.

"We can't say for sure, I'm afraid"

Yamcha's smile weakened and was replaced with an anxious look.

"What do you mean?" Asked Chaitozu, his tone tense.

"Well, You see... I'm still not sure whether or not this is an actual ship" Dr. Breifs said and scrathed his head

* * *

Vegeta remained standing where he, previously, watched his three companions disappear at the horizon.

He had weighed his options, either take the chance of one -or maybe even more dragonballs slipping through his fingers. Or relying on Nappa and Radditz.

Truth be told, it had been a tough choice. But the risk of the Earthlings interfering with his plan was far too great. So he had to put his fellow Saiyans to the test.

"They'd better not screw up" He thought and turned his back.

However, even though he was concerned about letting Nappa and Radditz go off on their own. He couldn't help but feel relieved that he finally got to be alone. Even the wind on this garbage planet was soothing in the absence of those rambling morons... Although, he would not let himself drift away from the task at hand.

"Now then" He mumbled as he clicked the on button of his scouter.

He adjusted the settings so it would focus on the stronger life-forces of the planet. And as soon as he did, the screen beeped in warning of three approaching energies.

He frowned when he saw that those high powers were heading his way.

"What now - Why are they comming back?"

He wondered for a slight second before he realised that it wasn't his fellow Saiyans that was returning. A sly smile grew on his lips.

"More green friends. Just what I need" He thought and turned towards the approaching _Namekians._

"Good timing" He yelled as they descended to the ground.

Three Namekians stared back at him in fury. Two of them were quite small. But the one standing in the middle was around Nappa's size.

"And here I thought I'd miss out on your faces, upon seeing the surprise we left for you" He mocked and gestured with his hand towards the destroyed village.

"You will pay for what you have done, you monster!" One of the smaller Namekians seethed.

"Really?" He asked.

His cocky demeanor angered them even more.

"Let me have him!" The Nappa-sized Namekian demanded.

"I'll crush him like the little insect he is!"

Vegeta burst out in a vicious laughter.

"Oh that is rich, coming from a human-sized slug!"

The Namekians clenched their teeth at his remark.

"But go ahead, I'm waiting" Vegeta challenged.

"Perhaps you will give me a better fight than the previous one I had with your pathetic friends"

"YOU ARROGANT BASTARD! I'LL SEND YOU TO HELL" The biggest one screamed and leapt forward.

With a blink of an eye the large Namekian was in front of the evil Saiyan with his fist raised to be planted in his oponent's face. But, just a few milliseconds from impact, Vegeta raised his hand. He Blocked the surprise attack by grabbing the Namekian's fist. A reaction so fast, it took the Namekian some time to understand what had happened.

"Tch" Vegeta clicked with his tongue. Dissapointed at his oponent strength, or lack there of, he tore his arm off.

"GAAAAH!" The Namekian screamed, with his eyes fixed on what was left of his arm.

Vegeta threw the lose arm on the ground like it was nothing while the two bystanders stared at the horrifying scene in shock.

A couple of seconds later they collected themselves.

"ESU!" One of them yelled.

The one called Esu got down on his hand and knees, a stream of purple blood poured out of the fleshy stump and he breathed heavily to maintain conciousness.

The two other Namekians quickly put themselves in front of him and eyed the vicious Saiyan with defiance.

"Dying together, huh? Now that is what I call true solidarity" Vegeta mocked.

"But then again, it doesn't have to end like that..."

The two Namekians quickly glanced at each other. Neither of them knew what to make of the Saiyans comment.

"What makes you think that you would win?" One of them asked.

"Heh, well..." Vegeta chuckled.

"You see this?" He asked, pointing at the scouter planted over his ear.

"It allows me to see your ki. And I can already tell you now, that even if you two fight me at the same time. You still wont stand a chance against me" The flame-haired Saiyan remarked.

"However, I am prepared to spare your lives _if_ you give me what I want"

The Namekians looked at him as if he was speaking gibberish. He was standing in front of the village he had erradicated not too long ago and now, suddenly he would offer mercy? And for what? Neither of them had anything of value to give which in turn made both of them wonder if they had understood him correctly. So instead of answering his question they asked,

"Why are you doing this?"

Vegeta crossed his arms and raised one of his eyebrows.

"It's really quite simple. I want the dragonballs and you are standing in my way"

"I doubt _all_ of us are" The other Namekian responded.

"You'd be surprised" The flame-haired Saiyan countered.

"So, do you want to live?"

The two Namekians exchanged looks of bewilderement.

"Of-ofcourse we do, but we don't have any dragonball"

"Hn" Vegeta grunted.

"Don't take me for a fool. I could see that even before you landed... What I want from you is information"

"Information?" The Namekians repeated in question.

"You see" He started.

"I have gathered three dragonballs in total, all of which have been placed in your villages... Now, with four left to go and only three Namekian villages out there, I am a little curious... Where would I find the last one?"

* * *

"Ka? Geru? What's going on?" Asked Elder Moori.

"They are not who you think they are" Geru explained.

"They have slaughtered an entire village just to get their hands on the dragonballs!"

The villagers gasped in shock and distressed murmurs could be heard throughout the group.

Elder Moori turned his attention to the two Earthlings.

"Is this true?"

Bulma and Krillin raised both of their hands in order to showcase their innocence.

"N-no... We're not the same as the ones who attacked your other village" Said Krillin.

"I find it hard to belive you!" Yelled Geru.

"Why else would you come here?" Ka challenged.

"Uhm..." Krillin hesitated.

The tension was thick and made everyone feel as if the slightest misstep would end in a catastrophe. The Earthlings in particular found themselves in a very difficult situation. In truth, they were looking for the dragonballs. Though mentioning it now wouldn't exactly be in their favour...

"Admit it!" Ka ordered.

The bald Earthling slowly shook his head.

"You don't understan-"

"Don't you dare lie to us!" Geru interrupted him and took a step forward.

"Wait, you guys!" Bulma intervened.

"You're right, we are looking for the dragonballs. But we're not the ones going around killing your people"

"Yeah!" Krillin agreed.

"Those aliens just happens to look like us but if you take a closer look, they're nothing like us!"

"They just _happen_ to look like you?" Ka repeated in disbelief.

Bulma turned to Krillin.

"Nice going!" She sneered.

"I know what it sounds like" Krillin said to the doubting Namekians.

"but it's the truth so please believe us!"

"Why would we?" Ka questioned.

"You obviously know these aliens, What's to say you're not them?"

"No we don't!" Bulma objected.

"Then, how would you know what they look like?" Ka challenged.

"Because I talked to one of your people who had been attacked" Krillin answered.

Both Ka and Geru got silent. And their angry resolve started to weaken... _Could he be telling the truth?_

"As far as I know all of us who have encountered them are dead" Ka opposed, trying to maintain his conviction.

"Everyone were, except one" Said Krillin with a serious frown.

"What happened to him?" Asked Geru.

Krillin felt a mix of sadness and guilt. A lump formed in his throat, forcing him to swallow before answering.

"He died in my arms"

Elder Moori's features softened when saw the sadness in Krillin's eyes. He couldn't help but feel that the alien _had_ to be genuine.

Geru's mind was heading in the same direction, though, not because of what he saw in Krillin. He wasn't much of an empath like the Namekian elders where known to be. So he could never tell if someone were lying. However, the small Earthling's comment had made him think of something he had noticed back at his own village. Something he had found to be strange.

"Did you - Did you do anything to his body after he died?" He asked despite knowing that the question sounded strange.

"Well... Yeah" Krillin hesitated.

"I didn't bury him if that's what you mean... I wasn't sure if that is your way of handling the dead. But I did close his eyes and... well..." He trailed off.

"And?" Geru insisted.

Krillin gave him a confused look and continued.

"I-uh... I put him in a traditional resting poistion. We sorta do it to our people when they pass away on Earth"

"What does it look like?" The broad Namekian asked.

Ka gave his Namekian brother a strange look.

"Geru, what are you doing?"

Geru ignored Ka's question. Instead, he kept focusing on Krillin's story.

"Could you show me?" He requested.

"Uhm..." Krillin blinked.

"Okay" He agreed and slowly got down on the ground.

Bulma stood quietly by, watching as the bald headed warrior got down on the ground. She had no clue on what was going and started to suspect the broad Namekian to be insane.

"Kinda like this" Krillin said, with his back on the ground and his hands clasped under his chest.

 _"That's it!"_ Geru thought as he recognized the position the small Earthling was in.

"Do you know his name?" He asked, eager to prove his theory right.

"No" Krillin answered in defeat while slowly getting up.

"I never had the chance to ask"

"His name was... Reef" Said Geru softly.

Ka's eyes bucketed as he finally understood what was going on.

"So that was why Geru asked such strange questions..." He thought while the sad memory of his small friend lying on the ground appeared in his mind.

"Reef..." Krillin repeated. His tone mournful.

All of the sudden, a wail was heard in the midst of the crowd. Some of the villagers in the front quickly moved out of the way to give room for a small Namekian who rushed up to them.

Ka narrowed his gaze as he looked at the little one.

"Dende?"

When they recognized him, both Ka and Geru felt terrible. That wasn't how they wanted him to find out about it...

"I'm sorry" Ka apologized, once Dende had approached them.

"Reef and our entire village are... No more"

"No..." Dende breathed, tears streaming down his face.

"I'm sorry as well" Krillin said with a look of regret.

"I wish I could've done more to save him..."

Dende turned to the bald Earthling and gave him a polite nod in response.

"He was one of Dende's best friends" Said Ka and put a comforting hand on the little Namekian's shoulders.

"Then I know how he feels" Krillin responded.

"One of them came to Earth before and almost killed my best friend..."

"That's why we came here. We want to save our friend and restore our dragonballs " Bulma added.

"Dragonballs on Earth?" Elder Moori blurted in pure surprise.

"How is that possible?"

"It seems our Guardian is... I mean, was a Namekian" Bulma explained.

"He was also killed by those evil Aliens" Krillin revealed. Though, decided to leave the details out. He wasn't sure if they would understand the concept of both Piccolo and Kami being the same yet seperate beings...

"A Namekian guardian on Earth... Interesting, it must have been a long time ago he left for your planet" Elder Moori speculated.

"Yeah, a couple of centuries... Maybe four or three... if I remember it right" Bulma answered.

"Three or four centuries ago, you say?" Elder Moori repeated in wonder.

"Yeah, so you see..." Bulma continued without noticing the Namekian elder being so deep in thought.

"We don't want to use your dragonballs for bad stuff"

"Very well... We will assume that you're telling the truth" The Namekian elder declared.

Both Krillin and Bulma sighed in relief.

"But" Elder Moori added.

"We wont give you the dragonball just yet"

"...You wont?" Bulma repeated, flabbergasted.

"If there are other, more vicious creatures looking for the dragonball. Then, it is up to us to protect it" He explained.

"But... It's not safe here either! These guys, Their powers are off the chart!" Krillin objected

"And they will probably come here as well and look for it!" Bulma warned.

"Who, exactly are they?" Asked Ka.

"We don't really know..." Krillin answered

"But I have felt their strength. And the weaket of them came to Earth and single-handedly defeated our two strongest fighters! So you see, we're better off hiding from them"

"If they are so powerful... What more could they wish for?" Geru wondered out loud.

"Whatever it is... I'm sure it's bad" Krillin responded.

"What do you think we should do Elder Moori?" Asked Ka.

"Hmm" Elder Moori pondered.

"Perhaps we should consult Lord Guru..."

"With all due respect Mr. Moori" Krillin began.

"We're running out of-" A sudden twinge spread throughout his body and he looked up, desperately hoping that his senses were wrong.

The rest followed his gaze but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"What is it now?" Bulma wondered.

"More Namekians?"

Krillin gritted his teeth in a mix of anxiety and rage.

"No"


End file.
